The V-J recombination of T cell receptor-gamma genes is blocked in interleukin-7 receptor-deficient mice.

IL-7R-deficient mice have severely impaired expansion of early lymphocytes and lack gamma delta T cells. To elucidate the role of IL-7R on gamma delta T cell development, we analyzed the rearrangements of TCR-alpha, beta, gamma, and delta genes in the thymus of the IL-7R-deficient mice. Southern blot analysis with a J gamma 1 probe revealed that more than 70% of J gamma 1 and J gamma 2 alleles are recombined to form distinct V gamma 1.2-J gamma 2 and V gamma 2-J gamma 1 fragments in control mice. On the contrary, no such recombination was detected in the mutant mice. The rearrangements in the TCR-alpha, beta, and delta loci were comparably observed in control and mutant mice. PCR analysis indicated that the V-J recombination of all the V gamma genes is severely hampered in the mutant mice. The mRNA of RAG-1, RAG-2, Ku-80, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) genes was equally detected between control and mutant thymi, suggesting that the expression of common recombination machinery is not affected. These data demonstrated that the V-J recombination of the TCR gamma genes is specifically blocked in the IL-7R-deficient mice and suggested the presence of highly specific regulation for TCR gamma gene rearrangement.