Comparison of T-Cell Receptor Jβ Gene Usage in Spleen Cells of Different Mouse Strains

Abstract

To elucidate whether T-cell receptor Jβ gene usage was affected by major histocompatibility complex haplotypes and other genetic backgrounds, we investigated such usage with Jβ-specific probes in four different mouse strains. As a result, (a) frequent usage of Jβ2.1 and Jβ2.6, (b) infrequent usage of Jβ1.3, Jβ1.5 and Jβ1.6, and (c) predominant usage of the Jβ2 cluster compared to the Jβ1 cluster were found. Importantly, these biases were common to almost all the tested Vβ families of the four strains. Thus, TCR Jβ usage would be independent of the major histocompatibility complex haplotypes and other genetic backgrounds.