About TCR beta
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 beta locus. The beta locus includes V (variable), J (joining), diversity (D), and C (constant) segments. During T cell development, the beta 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 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. Several V segments and one J segment of the beta locus are known to be incapable of encoding a protein and are considered pseudogenes. The beta locus also includes eight trypsinogen genes, three of which encode functional proteins and five of which are pseudogenes. Chromosomal abnormalities involving the T-cell receptor beta locus have been associated with T-cell lymphomas. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

About Alexa Fluor 488
Alexa Fluor™ 488 (AF488, Alexa 488) has an excitation peak at 488 nm and an emission peak at 496 nm, and is considered a high-performance alternative to FITC. Alexa 488 is one of the most popular Alexa Fluor™ dyes and is widely used in Fluorescence Microscopy, flow cytometry, and for staining low expression markers. It is bright, highly photostable, resistant to pH changes, and less susceptible to photobleaching. Alexa 488 and is similar in size, brightness and application to DyLight™ 488, iFluor® 488 and CF®488A.