Abstract
In mammals, the T-cell receptor (TCR) complex expressed on mature T-cells consists of α/β or γ/δ clonotypic heterodimers non-covalently associated with four invariant chains forming the CD3 complex (CD3γ, CD3δ, CD3ε and CD3ζ). The TCR is the unit implicated in the antigenic peptide recognition whereas the CD3 subunits present as three different dimers (δ–ε, γ–ε and ζ–ζ) in the receptor complex participate to the signal transduction and are indispensable for the expression of the TCR at the cell surface. We report the cloning, characterization and expression analysis of CD3γ/δ and CD3ε genes in an amphibian urodele, the Mexican axolotl. Amino acid comparisons show that important motifs and residues were preserved between the axolotl CD3 chains and various vertebrate CD3ε, CD3γ, CD3δ and CD3γ/δ chains. During ontogeny, CD3ε transcripts are first detected in the dorsal region of tail-bud embryos before thymus organogenesis. CD3γ/δ transcripts are first detected in the head of 4-week-old larvae. A cross-reactive polyclonal anti-CD3ε antibody was used for the co-immunoprecipitation of the two CD3 proteins of 25 and 29 kDa, respectively, associated with the 90-kDa αβ TCR heterodimer.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the University Pierre and Marie Curie and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR 7622). The authors thank Dr. Charles Durand for critical reading of the manuscript and helpful suggestions, and Sophie Gournet for the illustrations.
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The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession numbers AY212509 and GU301077).
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André, S., Kerfourn, F. & Fellah, J.S. Molecular and biochemical characterization of the Mexican axolotl CD3 (CD3ε and CD3γ/δ). Immunogenetics 63, 847–853 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-011-0560-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-011-0560-6