Distal Less Homeobox Protein 2 (DLX2)

Many vertebrate homeo box-containing genes have been identified on the basis of their sequence similarity with Drosophila developmental genes. Members of the Dlx gene family contain a homeobox that is related to that of Distal-less (Dll), a gene expressed in the head and limbs of the developing fruit fly. The Distal-less (Dlx) family of genes comprises at least 6 different members, DLX1-DLX6. The DLX proteins are postulated to play a role in forebrain and craniofacial development. DLX2 is located in a tail-to-tail configuration with another member of the gene family on the long arm of chromosome 2.The deduced sequence of the human DLX2 protein shows that the human and mouse DLX2 proteins are 92% identical. The human DLX2 protein is 330 amino acids in length, while the mouse DLX2 protein contains 332 amino acids.