TCR Alpha/TRAC (TRAC) Antibody – Rabbit Polyclonal

T cell receptors recognize foreign antigens which have been processed as small peptides and bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules at the surface of antigen presenting cells (APC). Each T cell receptor is a dimer consisting of one alpha and one beta chain or one delta and one gamma chain. In a single cell, the T cell receptor loci are rearranged and expressed in the order delta, gamma, beta, and alpha. If both delta and gamma rearrangements produce functional chains, the cell expresses delta and gamma. If not, the cell proceeds to rearrange the beta and alpha loci. This region represents the germline organization of the T cell receptor alpha and delta loci. Both the alpha and delta loci include V (variable), J (joining), and C (constant) segments and the delta locus also includes diversity (D) segments. The delta locus is situated within the alpha locus, between the alpha V and J segments. During T cell development, the delta chain is synthesized by a recombination event at the DNA level joining a D segment with a J segment; a V segment is then joined to the D-J gene. The alpha chain is synthesized by recombination joining a single V segment with a J segment. For both chains, the C segment is later joined by splicing at the RNA level. Recombination of many different V segments with several J segments provides a wide range of antigen recognition. Additional diversity is attained by junctional diversity, resulting from the random additional of nucleotides by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase. Five variable segments can be used in either alpha or delta chains and are described by TRAV/DV symbols. Several V and J segments of the alpha locus are known to be incapable of encoding a protein and are considered pseudogenes. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2016]

Constant region of T cell receptor (TR) alpha chain (PubMed:24600447). Alpha-beta T cell receptors are antigen specific receptors which are essential to the immune response and are present on the cell surface of T lymphocytes. Recognize peptide-major histocompatibility (MH) (pMH) complexes that are displayed by antigen presenting cells (APC), a prerequisite for efficient T cell adaptive immunity against pathogens (PubMed:25493333). Binding of alpha-beta TR to pMH complex initiates TR-CD3 clustering on the cell surface and intracellular activation of LCK that phosphorylates the ITAM motifs of CD3G, CD3D, CD3E and CD247 enabling the recruitment of ZAP70. In turn ZAP70 phosphorylates LAT, which recruits numerous signaling molecules to form the LAT signalosome. The LAT signalosome propagates signal branching to three major signaling pathways, the calcium, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase and the nuclear factor NF-kappa-B (NF-kB) pathways, leading to the mobilization of transcription factors that are critical for gene expression and essential for T cell growth and differentiation (PubMed:23524462). The T cell repertoire is generated in the thymus, by V-(D)-J rearrangement. This repertoire is then shaped by intrathymic selection events to generate a peripheral T cell pool of self-MH restricted, non-autoaggressive T cells. Post-thymic interaction of alpha-beta TR with the pMH complexes shapes TR structural and functional avidity (PubMed:15040585).