Molecular characterization and localization of the human MAFG gene

The human MAFG gene encodes a basic-leucine zipper (bZIP) protein that belongs to a family of transcription factors related to the v-maf oncogene. The ubiquitously expressed MAFG protein dimerizes with blood cell-specific bZIP factor p45 NF-E2, indicating that it may play a role in regulating hematopoietic gene expression. We have characterized the human MAFG gene and shown that it consists of at least three exons, which are separated by small introns. The first exon is not translated. The genomic structure of the MAFG locus is highly conserved between human and chicken. We have mapped the MAFG gene to human chromosome region 17q25 by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Several putative human disease loci have been mapped to this telomeric portion of chromosome 17.