Chromosomal Locations of the Murine T-Cell Receptor Alpha-Chain Gene and the T-Cell Gamma Gene

Two independent methods were used to identify the mouse chromosomes on which are located two families of immunoglobulin (Ig)-like genes that are rearranged and expressed in T lymphocytes. The genes coding for the alpha subunit of T-cell receptors are on chromosome 14 and the gamma genes, whose function is yet to be determined, are on chromosome 13. Since genes for the T-cell receptor beta chain were previously shown to be on mouse chromosome 6, all three of the Ig-like multigene families expressed and rearranged in T cells are located on different chromosomes, just as are the B-cell multigene families for the Ig heavy chain, and the Ig kappa and lambda light chains. The findings do not support earlier contentions that genes for T-cell receptors are linked to the Ig heavy chain locus (mouse chromosome 12) or to the major histocompatibility complex (mouse chromosome 17).