Epigenetic control of Tcrb gene rearrangement

v(D)J recombination assembles antigen receptor genes from germline V, D and J segments during lymphocyte development. In alpha beta T-cells, this leads to the subsequent expression of T-cell receptor (TCR) beta and a chains. Generally, V(D)J recombination is closely controlled at various levels, including cell-type and cell-stage specificities, order of locus/gene segment recombination, and allele usage to mediate allelic exclusion. Many of these controls rely on the modulation of gene accessibility to the recombination machinery, involving not only biochemical changes in chromatin arrangement and structural modifications of chromosomal organization and positioning, but also the refined composition of the recombinase targets, the so-called recombination signal sequences. Here, we summarize current knowledge regarding the regulation of V(D)J recombination at the Tcrb gene locus, certainly one for which these various levels of control and regulatory components have been most extensively investigated. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.