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E A Nielsen

Publications and source records attributed to E A Nielsen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

T-cell recognition of Ia molecules selectively altered by a single amino acid substitution.

T lymphocytes recognize foreign antigen together with allele-specific determinants on membrane-bound class I and class II (Ia) gene products of the major histocompatibility complex. To identify amino acids of class II molecules critical to this recognition process, the genes encoding the beta chains of the I-Ak molecule were cloned from a wild-type B-cell hybridoma and from an immunoselected variant subline showing distinct serological and T-cell stimulatory properties. Nucleotide sequencing and DNA-mediated gene transfer established that a single base transition (G----A) encoding a change from glutamic acid to lysine at position 67 in the I-Ak beta molecule accounted for all the observed phenotypic changes of the variant cells. These results confirm the importance of residues 62 to 78 in the amino terminal domain of I-A beta for class II-restricted T-cell recognition of antigen and demonstrate the ability of a single substitution in this region to alter this recognition event.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Cell-type-specific cDNA probes and the murine I region: the localization and orientation of Ad alpha.

Labeled cDNA probes highly enriched for B-cell-specific (B-T) and T-suppressor-cell-specific (Ts-B) sequences were used to screen a set of genomic cosmid clones spanning 230 kilobases of the murine immune response (I) region. With the B-cell derived probe, four I-region genes were detectable (A beta, E beta, E beta 2, and E alpha), as well as an additional (fifth) region of hybridization. The T-cell probe, prepared from a putative I-J positive suppressor cell hybridoma, was negative in a parallel experiment. A genomic fragment corresponding to the new region of hybridization seen with the B-cell cDNA probe identified a discrete mRNA species in RNA blotting analysis that had a pattern of expression strikingly similar to E alpha mRNA in a variety of lymphoid tumor lines. This fragment was also used to isolate cDNA clones from a library highly enriched (20-40 times) for B-cell-specific sequences (selected cDNA cloning). DNA sequence analysis of one of these cDNA clones indicates that this gene encodes the A alpha molecule of the d haplotype (Ad alpha). These findings establish that the order of the class II genes in the Ia complex is as follows: centromere-A beta-A alpha-E beta-E beta 2-E alpha.

Animals↗

Isolation of cDNA clones encoding T cell-specific membrane-associated proteins.

Of 10 distinct cloned DNA copies of mRNAs expressed in T lymphocytes but not in B lymphocytes and associated with membrane-bound polysomes, one hybridizes to a region of the genome that has rearranged in a T-cell lymphoma and several T-cell hybridomas. These characteristics suggest that it encodes one chain of the elusive antigen receptor on the surface of T lymphocytes.

Animals↗

Sequence relationships between putative T-cell receptor polypeptides and immunoglobulins.

Comparison of the sequence of a cloned T cell-specific cDNA with those of cross-reacting cloned cDNAs isolated from a thymocyte library indicates the presence of variable, constant and joining regions remarkably similar in size and sequence to those encoding immunoglobulin proteins. Together with the evidence for somatic gene rearrangements reported in the accompanying paper, this strongly suggests that the TM86 cDNA clone encodes one chain of the T-cell receptor for antigen.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Isolation of a cDNA clone corresponding to an X-linked gene family (XLR) closely linked to the murine immunodeficiency disorder xid.

The striking number of human and murine immunodeficiency disorders which map to the X chromosome suggests that genes localized on this chromosome must have important roles in lymphocyte development. At least seven distinct disorders in the human and two in the mouse disrupt lymphocyte maturation, particularly that of B cells, at characteristic stages. As functional genes mapping to the X chromosome in one mammal are found on the X chromosome in all other mammals, the same genes regulating lymphocyte development are expected to be found on the X chromosome in mouse and man. Investigations into the possible mechanisms of these X-linked disorders have been hampered by the lack of molecular probes for the genes or gene products affected; because of this, and the possibility of correlating one or more of the several hundred B- or T-cell-specific genes with a specific mutation, we surveyed 15 different B- and T-cell-specific cDNA clones for localization to the X chromosome. We report here the characterization of one of these murine cDNA clones, which hybridizes with a large, X-linked gene family, designated XLR (X-linked, lymphocyte-regulated). We show that the XLR gene family is closely linked to the X-linked immunodeficiency described in the CBA/N mouse strain (xid), by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of DNA from mice congeneic for xid. This finding, together with data on the expression of the XLR locus in B cells, indicates that this gene family either includes the locus defined by the xid mutation or is adjacent to it in a gene complex which may be important in lymphocyte differentiation.

Animals↗