Suppose you want to do adoptive transfer of OT-II cells for checking T cell expansion of a specific population. What difference does it make if one uses cells from OT-II mice vs OT-II Ly5.1+ mice?
Wild type C57 strain carries the leukocyte marker Ly5.2 ( or CD45.2) and it is the same for OTII mice. OTII Ly5.1+ express the different marker CD45.1 ( or Ly5.1) so you can identify your adoptive transferred CD4+ cells in the organs of recipient mice by staining with anti CD45.1.