Together at last: bHLH and LIM-HD regulators cooperate to specify motor neurons.
bHLH and LIM-HD transcription factors were originally thought to act at different stages of neurogenesis: bHLHs as neuronal "inducers" and LIM-HDs as postmitotic subtype determinants. These distinctions are becoming blurred, and a current study by Lee and Pfaff in this issue of Neuron shows that interaction between these factors functions to synchronize neurogenesis with neuronal cell type specification.
Allan
Douglas W
DW
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Thor
Stefan
S
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics*; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs / Q000235:genetics; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D060850:LIM-Homeodomain Proteins; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C085473:LHX1 protein, human; D060850:LIM-Homeodomain Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors