Thy-2: a murine thymocyte-brain alloantigen controlled by a gene linked to the major histocompatibility complex.

We describe a new murine cell-surface alloantigen, provisionally designated Thy-2, which is expressed primarily on thymocytes and brain tissue. Although Thy-2 is also expressed at lower levels on bone-marrow and spleen cells, this antigen does not appear to be present on lymph-node, liver, or red blood cells. Immunoprecipitation of surface-labeled thymocyte extracts from a variety of inbred strains reveals this antigen to be a single polypeptide of 150000 daltons. Quantitative membrane immunofluorescence demonstrates that Thy-2 is a minor cell-surface component which is present on the majority of thymocytes. Mice heterozygous at the Thy-2 locus express approximately 50 percent as much antigen as positive homozygotes. Expression of the Thy-2 alloantigen is controlled by a single semidominant gene located approximately 3 cM to the right of the H-2K locus on chromosome 17.