Motor Neuron And Pancreas Homeobox Protein 1 (MNX1)

MNX1 contains a homeodomain preceded by a highly conserved 82-amino acid domain. The HB9 homeodomain was found to be most similar to that of the Drosophila homeobox box gene proboscipedia. Northern blot analysis detected a major 2.2-kb transcript in hematopoietic cell lines. The transcript was most prevalent in several human B cell lines and K562 cells. Ross et al. (1998) were prompted to investigate the sacral expression of HLXB9 by a report of tailbud expression of the homolog in Xenopus laevis. Ross et al. (1998) found that HLXB9 was detectable in the sacral region during embryogenesis, albeit predominantly in the anterior horn regions of the spinal cord.Based on the expression pattern of HLXB9, Harrison et al. (1994) suggested its involvement in regulating gene transcription in lymphoid and pancreatic tissues.