Nod caj mice

All the mice used in this study were kept in specific pathogen-free conditions with a 12-h dark/light cycle at the Yale University animal facility. NOD/Caj mice were originally obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and have been maintained at Yale University. Tlr7^−/− C57BL/6 breeders, which were kindly provided by Prof. Richard Flavell (Yale University),^{22 (link)} were backcrossed to the NOD/Caj genetic background for 12 generations. The purity of the NOD genetic background was examined by mouse genome scan using an Illumina SNP chip (DartMouse). BDC 2.5 CD4⁺ TCR transgenic NOD mice, NY8.3 CD8⁺ TCR transgenic mice and Rag-deficient (Rag^−/−) NOD mice were originally obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and have been maintained at Yale University. The use of the animals in this study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Yale University.

NOD/Caj mice were originally obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and have been maintained at Yale University for over 30 yrs. 2H6TCRαβ NOD mice (designated 2H6; expressing the TCRα chain Vα6/Jα45/Cα and the TCRβ chain Vβ14/Dβ1.1/Jβ2.3/Cβ2) were generated, as previously described (8 (link), 19 (link)), and maintained at Yale University. VH125 NOD mice, expressing the heavy chain of the insulin-reactive monoclonal antibody (mAb) 125 were generated by Dr James Thomas (Vanderbilt University) (12 (link)) and obtained from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, Maine). Approximately >95% of these VH125 B cells were IgM^a, indicating a high level of allelic exclusion (data not shown). 2H6VH125 NOD mice were obtained by breeding 2H6 NOD mice with VH125 NOD mice. Recombinase-activating-gene deficient NOD (Rag^-/-NOD) mice were originally obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and maintained at Yale University. All the mice used in this study were kept in specific pathogen–free (SPF) conditions, in a 12-hour dark/light cycle and housed in individually-ventilated filter cages with free access to water and autoclaved food at the animal facility of Yale University. The Yale University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved the usage of animals and the procedures used in this study.