ArticleNature communications2026
A multi-ethnic reference map of T cell receptor germline diversity reveals evidence of natural selection on alpha chain genes.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Structure of Vertebrate Antigen Receptor Repertoires: An Evolutionary Perspective.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
- The Role of the T Cell Receptor Sequence in Shaping T Cell Functional Fate.Immunological reviews · 2026Review
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5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
T cell receptors (TCR) orchestrate adaptive immunity, yet the complex, repetitive architecture of the TCR loci has impeded systematic characterization of human genetic variation in the genes encoding the TCR. Using public long-read sequencing data from the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium and All of Us consortia spanning 2719 donors, we build a near-complete map of common alleles in TCR V, D, and J genes, revealing amino acid variation at almost every position within V genes. We observe allele frequency differences between populations for many individual TCR genes. We present evidence of natural selection on TCR genes, including signals of balancing selection and positive selection in the alpha chain locus. We find TCR allelic polymorphism alters core functional properties of T cells, including thymic fate commitment and cell-surface receptor abundance. Collectively, these findings position inherited variation in TCR genes as a key axis of immunological diversity that may shape interindividual differences in immune responses.
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