HNF-1, a member of a novel class of dimerizing homeodomain proteins.

Abstract

Most hierarchical models that attempt to account for patterns of expression of genes in the developing organism postulate the existence of small groups of master regulators operating in a contingent temporal series. Genes expressed in a tissue-specific manner have been extensively studied with the expectation that these genes are likely to be under the control of a more general regulatory pathway. One fruitful approach has been to identify factors that induce expression of a family of tissue-specific genes. Consistent with the demonstration that tissue-specific gene expression is largely controlled at the transcriptional level (l), the majority of these factors identified to date, including MyoD (2), Pit-1 (3) or GHF-1 (4, 5), and Oct-2 (6, 7), have been DNA-binding transcription factors. However, less biased genetic approaches in invertebrates have also identified cytokines and membrane proteins, including adhesive molecules and receptors for cytokines