Description
Product Characteristics:
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.
Subcellular location: Nucleus
Synonyms: Homeobox protein NK 2 homolog B, Homeobox protein NK-2 homolog B, Homeobox protein Nkx 2.2, Homeobox protein Nkx-2.2, NK 2 homolog B, NK2 homeobox 2, NK2 transcription factor like protein B, NK2 transcription factor related locus 2, NKX2 2, NKX2-2, NKX22, NKX22_HUMAN, Nkx2b, tinman.
Target Information: The protein encoded by this gene contains a homeobox domain and may be involved in the morphogenesis of the central nervous system. This gene is found on chromosome 20 near NKX2-4, and these two genes appear to be duplicated on chromosome 14 in the form of TITF1 and NKX2-8. The encoded protein is likely to be a nuclear transcription factor. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]