Structure of the NKG2 family and the RT-PCR strategy. The upper part shows the consensus structure of the NKG2 family, including a 5′ untranslated region (UT), an intracytoplasmic domain (cyt), a transmembrane domain (TM), an extracellular carbohydrate recognizing domain (CRD), and a 3′ UT. The middle part shows alignment of the cDNA sequences, in which the exon boundaries are marked by the vertical bars. The lower part shows sequences of the TM-CRD junction used for RT-PCR. The exon encompassing the TM-CRD junction spans nucleotides 448 to 501 (A), 294 to 338 (C), 580 to 619 (D), and 469 to 522 (F). The sequences used for the forward primers are in italicized letters. The consensus sequence, 5′-TGTGGCCCTTGTCCTGAAAAGTGGAT-3′, is used for the binding of reverse primer. The figure is drawn to show relative position only but is not proportional to exact sizes.