Monogenic TCRβ Assembly and Expression Are Paramount for Uniform Antigen Receptor Specificity of Individual αβ T Lymphocytes

Abstract

The ability of individual T and B cells to display Ag receptors of unique uniform specificity is the molecular basis of adaptive immunity. Most αβ T cells achieve uniform specificity by assembling in-frame genes on only one allelic copy of TCRβ and TCRα loci, while others prevent incorporation of TCRα protein from both alleles into TCRs. Analysis of mice expressing TCR proteins from a restricted combination of transgenes showed that TCR protein pairing restrictions achieve uniform specificity of cells expressing two types of TCRβ protein. However, whether this mechanism operates in the physiological context where each dual-TCRβ cell expresses one set of a vast number of different TCRβ proteins remains an open question, largely because there is a low, but significant, portion of cells carrying two in-frame TCRβ genes. To resolve this issue, we inactivated one allelic copy of the TCRα locus in a new mouse strain that assembles two in-frame TCRβ genes in an elevated fraction of cells. This genetic manipulation has no effect on the frequency of cells that display multiple types of αβ TCR, yet increases the representation of cells displaying TCRβ proteins that generate more highly expressed TCRs. Our data demonstrate that some TCRβ proteins exhibit differential functional pairing with TCRα proteins, but these restrictions have negligible contribution for ensuring uniform specificity of cells that express two types of TCRβ protein. Therefore, we conclude that mechanisms governing monogenic assembly and expression of TCRβ genes in individual cells are paramount for uniform specificity of αβ T lymphocytes.