On 11 Nov 1996, David Groth wrote:
> if CD3 gamma undergoes genomic rearrangement upon clonal selection?
I'm not sure if I'm answering the question you're actually answering,
but...
If you're asking if CD3(gamma) genomic structure is observed/obliged to be
rearranged on gamma-delta T cells, then yes. This has been seen since
the cloning of the gamma gene (recall recombination was the 'readout' of
candidate TCR genes).
If you're asking if the same is true of mature alpha-beta T cells, then
it's a bit murkier. I don't think that this is
uniformly the case, though people have gotten both results in various
systems (looking at primary populations and cell lines with relevant
probes). See William Paul's Fundamentals of Immunology Text for an
assortment of cloning/comparison papers. Recall that rearrangement of the
alpha locus ablates the delta locus. Similarly, recall that
not all mature gamma-delta T cells appear to have developed in thymic
environments of clonal selection.
Are these answers in the right direction?
John
