Towards a molecular understanding of T-cell differentiation

Lymphoid differentiation is one of the best studied examples of mammalian development. Here Hans Clevers and Michael Owen describe how the cloning of the genes that encode T-cell-specific membrane proteins allows the identification of transcription factors that control the expression of these T-cell genes. Such transcription factors play a key role in the development of the mature T-cell phenotype by functioning as 'master regulators of T-cell differentiation'.