¹Chou, H.S., ¹Behlke, M.A., ¹Godambe, S.A., ¹Russell, J.H., ²Brooks, C.G. and ¹Loh, D.Y.
¹Washington School of Medicine, St. Louis, and ²Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, U.S.A.

EMBO Journal 5: 2149-2155, 1986.
 

Both cDNA and genomic clones of the T cell receptor (TCR) alpha- and beta-chain genes of the alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) clone F3 were examined. Two distinct rearrangement events, one functional and one non-functional, were found for both the alpha and beta loci. Thus only a single functional TCR alpha beta heterodimer could be defined, consistent with allelic exclusion in the TCR genes. The V alpha gene employed by F3 is part of a six-member V alpha subfamily. Genomic clones containing each member of this subfamily were isolated and the V alpha nucleotide sequences determined. Five of these six genes are functional; these genes differ from each other by 7-14% at the amino acid level. A single dominant hypervariable region was defined within this subfamily, in contrast to the pattern of variability seen between V alpha genes in general.