The human pseudoautosomal gene MIC2 encodes a 185 amino acid cell surface antigen recognised by the monoclonal antibody 12E7. The gene is abundantly expressed in all tissues tested and a role in cell-cell interactions has been suggested. We describe here the isolation of 95kb of genomic DNA encompassing the entire MIC2 gene. The gene is 52kb in size and orientated towards the centromere. As predicted by previous genetic studies, the 5' end of MIC2 is located 95kb from the pseudoautosomal boundary and confirming that the elevated rate of recombination in pseudoautosomal region is continuous up to the boundary. The gene is divided into ten exons which show correlation with predicted domains of the protein and are considerably smaller than the average for mammalian genes. Evolutionary studies indicate that the gene can be detected by DNA hybridisation only in primates, however genomic probes for both exons 1 and 5 detect related locus present on both the human X and Y chromosomes.