Restricted diversity of Vγ9‐JP rearrangements in unstimulated human γ/δ T lymphocytes

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Abstract
The diversity of human peripheral blood γ/δ T cells is known to be limited by the preferential use of V genes coding for Vγ9 (usually linked to JP) and Vδ2. We show that the diversity of these cells is further limited at the junctional region. First, an identical rearrangement is found in 10%–30% of all γ/δ T cells which contain Vγ9‐JP rearrangements. Second, the vast majority of Vγ9‐JP rearrangements which are different from this predominant sequence have, nevertheless, the same length or code for variable regions whose length differs by only one amino acid (±1). Overall, 30%–50% of Vγ9‐JP rearrangements have a junctional region which encodes for a peptide with the amino acid sequence E VX EL, in which EV is predominantly, but not exclusively, encoded by the germ‐line Vγ9 sequence and EL is encoded by JP. The X amino acid is variable, but a glutamine is over‐represented. The diversity of the Vγ9‐JP repertoire is fairly constant in different individuals and at different ages, including before, during and after the post‐natal expansion of peripheral blood γ/δ T cells.