The High Mobility Group Protein

Xiang-Wen Xiao, Jian-Lin Zhou, Chang Zhou*
(Key Laboratory of Protein Biochemistry and Developmental of Education Department of China, College of Life Science,Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China)

Abstract High mobility group (HMG) proteins exsit in eukaryotic cells widely named according to their high electrophoretic mobility on SDS-PAGE. The HMG protein family is dynamical player in gene regulation in eukaryote. The HMG protein family is, after histones, the second most abundant chromatin protein and exerts global genomic functions in the chromatin composition and gene expression. The HMG protein family is subdivided into three subfamilies: the HMGA subfamily, the HMGB subfamily and HMGN subfamily. This article mostly discusses the structures and functions of the three subfamilies.

Key words high mobility group proteins (HMG); HMGA; HMGB; HMGN

Received: September 30, 2005
Accepted: March 24, 2006

*Corresponding author. Tel: 86-731-8872916, E-mail: ssipzc1995@yahoo.com.cn