Transcriptional Regulation of T Cell Lineage Commitment

Abstract

Through most of life, multilineage precursor cells undergo commitment to the T cell lineage only after immigrating to the thymus. These cells undergo a stepwise process through which they give up potential to become B cells, myeloid cells, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, or innate lymphoid cells. The commitment process involves separate mechanisms to deal with each of these options, with environmental Notch signaling deferring access to the alternative pathways through multiple rounds of cell division until permanent, intrinsic mechanisms of alternative fate exclusion can be established. The basis for measuring alternative lineage potential, the roles of environmental signals in promoting different fates, the transcriptional machinery that provides access to them, and the T cell–specific factors that eventually eliminate them are described in this article.

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