The active gene that encodes human high mobility group 1 protein (HMG1) contains introns and maps to chromosome 13

The human genome contains a large number of sequences related to the cDNA for High Mobility Group 1 protein (HMG1), which so far has hampered the cloning and mapping of the active HMG1 gene. We show that the human HMG1 gene contains introns, while the HMG1-related sequences do not and most likely are retrotransposed pseudogenes. We identified eight YACs from the ICI and CEPH libraries that contain the human HMG1 gene. The HMG1 gene is similar in structure to the previously characterized murine homologue and maps to human chromosome 13 band q12, as determined by in situ hybridization. The mouse Hmg1 gene maps to the telomeric region of murine Chromosome 5, which is syntenic to the human 13q12 band.