title: Phox2 genes - from patterning to connectivity.
abstract: In the developing brain, many transcription factors are expressed in complex patterns and dynamics, and drive the differentiation of many classes of neurons. How does the spatio-temporal landscape of transcription factor expression map onto the bewildering variety of neuronal types, and, for each of them, the variety of developmental stages they go through? In other words, what is the logic in the transcriptional control of neuronal differentiation? Here, we review what recent work on the two neuronal-type-specific transcription factors Phox2a and Phox2b has contributed to our understanding of this broad question.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 8542, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France. jfbrunet@biologie.ens.fr
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pattyn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C109220:NBPhox protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C491061:PHOX2A protein, human; D014157:Transcription Factors