Aire is not involved in the deletion of OT-I cells. Thymocytes (6 weeks postreconstitution) from chimeric mice generated by reconstituting wt.Aire^+/+, wt.Aire^−/−, RIP-OVA^hi.Aire^+/+, or RIP-OVA^hi.Aire^−/− mice with OT-I BM were analyzed by flow cytometry for expression of CD4, CD8, and Vα2 (representative contour plots, left) and enumerated for SP thymocytes expressing high levels of TCR (CD4⁻CD8⁺Vα2⁺ cells, right). Representative contour plots were not all from the same experiment: Aire^+/+ groups are matched, as are Aire^−/− groups. Histograms show the mean ± SEM for each group. n = number of mice pooled from several experiments. Figures 6 and 2B share the same groups lacking expression of the RIP transgene. Significance relative to WT: **P ≤ .01; ***P ≤ .001; ns indicates not significant.