Exon trapping was applied to genomic DNA from a chromosome 21-specific cosmid library (LL21NC02-Q) to clone portions of genes from this chromosome. Among a large number of trapped exons, three showed striking homology to different regions of the cDNA for the mouse T-lymphoma invasion and metastasis gene (Tiam-1) at both nucleotide and predicted amino acid sequence levels, suggesting that these three exons are part of a human homolog of the mouse Tiam-1 gene. We mapped this presumed human TIAM1 gene to chromosome 21 by using appropriate somatic cell hybrids, YACs, and cosmids. The TIAM1 gene localizes to YAC 760H5 of the I. Chumakov et al. (1992, Nature 359: 380) YAC contig between markers D21S298 and D21S404 in band 21q22.1. This human gene (which is a member of the group of guanine nucleotide-dissociation stimulators that modulate the activity of Rho-like proteins) may be important in the development or metastasis of malignancies that are associated with abnormalities on chromosome 21, including the various forms of leukemia frequent in trisomy 21.