Abstract
The T-cell receptor (TCR) is a highly variable molecule composed of two polypeptide chains that recognize antigenic peptides in the context of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules. In this study, we describe a sequence-based search for germline polymorphisms in the variable (V) gene segments of the humanTCRA/D locus. Thirty differentV gene segments were amplified from six to eight unrelated individuals and sequenced from low melting point agarose. Twenty-seven polymorphisms were identified in 15V gene segments. These polymorphisms are mainly single nucleotide substitutions, but an insertion/deletion polymorphism and a single dinucleotide repeat with variable length were also seen. Of the 15 sequence variations found in the coding regions, six are silent and nine encode amino acid changes. All of the amino acid changes are found at non-conserved residues, frequently in the hypervariable regions, where they may influence MHC and/or peptide recognition. Therefore, it is possible that germline variations inTCR genes could influence an individual’s immune response, and may also contribute to susceptibility to diseases such as autoimmunity.
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The nucleotide sequence data reported in this paper have been submitted to the GenBank nucleotide sequence database and have been assigned the accession numbers U32520-U32549
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Boysen, C., Carlson, C., Hood, E. et al. Identifylng DNA polymorphisms in humanTCRA/D variable genes by direct sequencing of PCR products. Immunogenetics 44, 121–127 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02660060
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02660060