CIC, a member of a novel subfamily of the HMG-box superfamily, is transiently expressed in developing granule neurons.

We describe here the identification and characterization of a new gene, Cic, in both human and mouse genomes. These are orthologs of the Drosophila gene capicua, and represent a new subfamily of the HMG-box superfamily. Expression of the Cic gene is predominantly restricted to immature granule cells in the cerebellum, hippocampus and olfactory bulb in the CNS. This gene is therefore implicated in CNS development, in particular in granule cell development.