ラット胸腺に発現するクラスI遺伝子 : 細胞膜貫通部分の遺伝子および分子の同定による比較検討と新しい遺伝子ファミリーRT1.Nの同定

概要

論文の詳細を見る
Thymus is a major site of T cell development where selection of conventional T cells occurs by interaction between T cell receptors and MHC molecules. However, the functions of class I-related genes and their products (referred to as class Ib) remain unclear. Our previous results suggested that the thymus-specific class Ib genes homologous to mouse TL and human CD1 existed in the rat genome but were not expressed in the thymus. We therefore conducted a study to characterize class Ib genes expressed in rat thymocytes. At least eight genes were functionally transcribed and most of them showed high similarity to classical class I genes with over 80% similarity in exon 5, which encodes the transmembrane portion. The only one exception was clone RH-104 which has very low sequence similarity to other class I genes. The RH-104 mRNA was preferentially transcribed in thymus and to a lesser extent in the spleen. DNA data base analysis revealed that RH-104 was highly similar to RT1. N genes located in the growth and reproduction complex (grc-G/C region) of the rat MHC. Genomic cloning analysis revealed that RH-104 was derived from a novel gene, RT1. N4. The products of this novel gene family may act as ligand or antigen-presenting molecules which are required for normal T cell development in the rat.
札幌医科大学の論文
1997-12-01