Il 12p40 b6.129s1 il12btm1jm j

Wild-type mice were obtained from both the Jackson Laboratory (C57BL/6J and B6.SJL-Ptprc^aPepc^b/BoyJ) and Taconic Biosciences (B6NTac and B6.SJL-Ptprc^a/BoyAiTac). B6 mice were bred for dual congenic expression using a dam or sire from opposing place of purchase to eliminate any strain drift between the two wild-type strains. IL-12p40−/− (B6.129S1-Il12bt^m1Jm/J) and IL-12p35−/− (B6.129S1-Il12at^m1Jm/J) were sourced from the Jackson Laboratory. IL-12p40−/− mice were backcrossed to wild-type mice (B6.SJL-PtprcaPepcb/BoyJ) to generate CD45.1 congenic IL-12p40−/− mice. SMARTA TCR transgenic mice were obtained from Jackson Laboratories (B6.Cg-Ptprca Pepcb Tg(TcrLCMV)1Aox/PpmJ). For all experiments, both female and male mice between 4 and 35 weeks of age were used. Animals were bred and maintained under specific pathogen free (SPF) conditions at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Experiments were performed with animals at least four weeks of age for bone marrow isolation and six weeks of age for all other experiments and approved by the University of Maryland, Baltimore Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.