Abstract
T cells are a primary component of the vertebrate adaptive immune system. There are three mammalian T cell lineages based on their T cell receptors (TCR). The αβ T cells and γδ T cells are ancient and found broadly in vertebrates. The more recently discovered γμ T cells are uniquely mammalian and only found in marsupials and monotremes. In this study, we compare the TCRμ locus (TRM) across the genomes of two marsupials, the gray short-tailed opossum and Tasmanian devil, and one monotreme, the platypus. These analyses revealed lineage-specific duplications, common to all non-eutherian mammals described. There is conserved synteny in the TRM loci of both marsupials but not in the monotreme. Our results are consistent with an ancestral cluster organization which was present in the last common mammalian ancestor which underwent lineage-specific duplications and divergence among the non-eutherian mammals.
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Data used are previously publically available as referenced in the materials and methods and throughout the manuscript.
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Funding
This research was partially funded by grants from Wellcome (102942/Z/13 and 222551/Z/21), Eric Guiler Tasmanian Devil Research Grants from the University of Tasmania Foundation and the US National Science Foundation (IOS-2103367). KAM was supported by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (DGE-1939267). MRS was supported by a Gates Cambridge Trust Scholarship.
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Morrissey, K.A., Stammnitz, M.R., Murchison, E. et al. Comparative genomics of the T cell receptor μ locus in marsupials and monotremes. Immunogenetics 75, 507–515 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-023-01320-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00251-023-01320-w