Figure 8.  Individual thymic progenitors can develop into populations of NK cells that show highly diverse expression of CD94/NKG2 receptors and Ly49 molecules
CD94 CD94
4D12 4D12
The above plots show the expression of CD94 and Ly49 molecules on the cells present within
two clones of NK cells that developed from single thymic progenitor cells
Conclusions
1.  Individual thymic progenitor cells can give rise to populations of NK cells that have a similar
degree of diversity to NK cells that develop in bulk cultures
2.  The fact that each clone is different in composition indicates that the stochastic events that
drive the generation of diversity occur relatively infrequently during the development of a clone
3.  The results show unambiguously that CD94hi and CD94lo NK cells are derived from a common
progenitor