The CDR-H3 repertoire from TdT-deficient adult bone marrow is a close, but not exact, homologue of the CDR-H3 repertoire from perinatal liver.

Compared with adult bone marrow (BM), the composition of the perinatal liver CDR-3 of the Ig H chain (CDR-H3) repertoire is marked by a paucity of N nucleotides and by enrichment for use of J(H) proximal DQ52 and D(H) proximal V(H) and J(H) gene segments. To test the extent to which these differences reflect limited perinatal TdT activity versus differences in the fetal/adult environment, we used the Hardy scheme to sort fractions B-F B lineage cells from TdT-deficient BALB/c adult BM. V(H)7183-containing VDJCμ transcripts from these cells were amplified, cloned, sequenced, and compared with transcripts from wild-type perinatal liver and adult BM. The pattern of V(H)DJ(H) usage in TdT-deficient BM largely matched that of TdT-sufficient adult cells. What minor differences were detected in the pro-B cell stage tended to diminish with B cell maturation, suggesting strong environmental or Ag-driven pressure to achieve a specific range of V(H)DJ(H) usage regardless of the extent of N nucleotide addition. However, although the patterns of V(H)DJ(H) usage in the TdT-deficient B lineage cells paralleled that of wild-type adult cells, the length distribution, global amino acid composition, and charge distribution of the CDR-H3 repertoire proved to be a close, although not exact, homologue of the CDR-H3 repertoire first expressed by late pre-B cells in the TdT-insufficient perinatal liver. Thus, although differing in V(H) content, TdT-deficient mice appear to represent a good, although not perfect, model for testing the role of perinatal CDR-H3 limitations on late B cell development and Ab responses.