Regulation of gene expression in developing cortex by the transcription factor Pax6

Brain development depends on the actions of proteins called transcription factors that specify the way each cell develops by determining which of its genes are active. Mutations affecting transcription factors disrupt this process and cause major brain defects. In humans, mutations of transcription factor Pax6 cause a syndrome comprising visual, neurological and psychiatric defects. We know little about which genes Pax6 controls. Recently, we found a set of genes whose expression differs in extracts of brain from wild-type and Pax6-mutant mice. The aim here is to study which brain cells change their expression of these genes when Pax6 is lost.