background:
Members of the NK-2 family of homeodomain proteins are key regulators of growth and development in several tissues, including brain, heart and pancreas. During neural development, sonic hedgehog (Shh) is known to control cell fate and mitogenesis, which is correlated with Shh dose-dependent expression of several genes, including Nkx-2.1, Nkx-2.2 and Nkx-2.9. Specifically, the Nkx-2.2 protein is responsible for directing ventral neuronal patterning in response to graded Shh signaling. In the pancreas, Nkx-2.2 is expressed in a, b and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) cells, but not in d cells. Nkx-2.2 expression is required for differentiation of pancreatic b cells, which produce insulin. Homozygous null mutations of the Nkx-2.2 gene in mice lead to severe hyperglycemia and death shortly after birth, which suggests that Nkx-2.2 may be an important therapeutic target for pancreatic diseases, including diabetes and cancer.
Function:
May be involved in specifying diencephalic neuromeric boundaries, and in controlling the expression of genes that play a role in axonal guidance.
Subunit:
Interacts with OLIG2 (By similarity).
Subcellular Location:
Nucleus.
Similarity:
Belongs to the NK-2 homeobox family.
Contains 1 homeobox DNA-binding domain.
Database links:
Entrez Gene: 4821 Human
Entrez Gene: 3688 Mouse
Entrez Gene: 366214 Rat
Entrez Gene: 531695 Cow
Omim: 604612 Human
SwissProt: O95096 Human
SwissProt: P42586 Mouse
SwissProt: Q90481 Zebrafish
Unigene: 516922 Human
Unigene: 330639 Mouse
Unigene: 32651 Rat
Important Note:
This product as supplied is intended for research use only, not for use in human, therapeutic or diagnostic applications.
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