Few V gene segments dominate the T cell receptor beta-chain repertoire of the human thymus.

We undertook a large sample census of the TCR-beta repertoire from a single human thymus (300 clones from an unamplified cDNA library), to establish the statistics of the rearranged V, D, J, and C gene segments. The assortments of all germ-line segments are subject to significant biases and thus critically reduce the effective germ-line contribution to beta-chain diversity. Thirty-two V genes characterize the whole sample, but surprisingly as few as seven genes from different families encompass half of the beta-chain repertoire. Furthermore, a Spearman rank order correlation test of the thymic V beta frequencies with those inferred in other studies using RNase protection assays shows a statistically significant similarity. Thus, in the establishment of thymic V beta frequencies in man, rearrangement preferences intrinsic to the progenitors of TCR-beta expressing cells override HLA- and Ag-dependent biasing factors. By implication, a large enough pool of direct progenitor cells (maybe as high as thousands) must exist to secure V beta frequencies against large random fluctuations. Uncorrelated with the V gene bias, the representation of D beta and J beta segments is also far from even. Notably, D beta 1 and J beta 2.1 and 1.2 predominate. Using the above mentioned rank order statistic, we also find that unlike V genes, the bias in the J segment usage carries over into the frequencies of peripheral T lymphocyte populations.