Neurogenin 1 (NEUROG1)

NGN1 inhibits the differentiation of neural stem cells into astrocytes. While NGN1 promotes neurogenesis by functioning as a transcriptional activator, NGN1 inhibits astrocyte differentiation by sequestering the CREB-binding protein (CBP)/SMAD1 transcription complex away from astrocyte differentiation genes and by inhibiting the activation of STAT transcription factors necessary for gliogenesis. Thus, 2 distinct mechanisms are involved in the activation and suppression of gene expression during cell-fate specification by NGN1.

Sequences for the mouse and human homologs were presented. NEUROD2 shows a high degree of homology to the bHLH region of NEUROD, whereas NEUROD3 is more distantly related.