Fez family transcription factors: controlling neurogenesis and cell fate in the developing mammalian nervous system.
Fezf1 and Fezf2 are highly conserved transcription factors that were first identified by their specific expression in the anterior neuroepithelium of Xenopus and zebrafish embryos. These proteins share an N-terminal domain with homology to the canonical engrailed repressor motif and a C-terminal DNA binding domain containing six C2H2 zinc-finger repeats. Over a decade of study indicates that the Fez proteins play critical roles during nervous system development in species as diverse as fruit flies and mice. Herein we discuss recent progress in understanding the functions of Fezf1 and Fezf2 in neurogenesis and cell fate specification during mammalian nervous system development. Going forward we believe that efforts should focus on understanding how expression of these factors is precisely regulated, and on identifying target DNA sequences and interacting partners. Such knowledge may reveal the mechanisms by which Fezf1 and Fezf2 accomplish both independent and redundant functions across diverse tissue and cell types.
['Eckler|Matthew J|MJ|', 'Chen|Bin|B|']
D000818:Animals D019521:Body Patterning D019143:Evolution, Molecular D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental D006801:Humans D058953:Neural Stem Cells D055495:Neurogenesis D066194:Olfactory Cortex D016548:Prosencephalon D012097:Repressor Proteins D014157:Transcription Factors
neurogenesis cell fate Fezf1 Fezf2 cerebral cortex gene expression olfactory system