LHX2

LIM/homeobox 2 protein (LHX2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LHX2 gene and is part of the LIM gene family.^[5][6][7] LHX2, like other members of the LIM-homeobox gene family, regulates developmental processes like tissue patterning, cell fate determination and differentiation.^[8]

LHX2
Identifiers
Aliases	LHX2, LH2, hLhx2, LIM homeobox 2
External IDs	OMIM: 603759; MGI: 96785; HomoloGene: 55848; GeneCards: LHX2; OMA:LHX2 - orthologs
Gene location (Human) Chr. Chromosome 9 (human)[1] Band 9q33.3 Start 124,001,670 bp[1] End 124,033,301 bp[1]
Gene location (Mouse) Chr. Chromosome 2 (mouse)[2] Band 2|2 B Start 38,229,293 bp[2] End 38,259,745 bp[2]
RNA expression pattern Bgee Human Mouse (ortholog) Top expressed in ventricular zone hair follicle ganglionic eminence sperm retinal pigment epithelium endothelial cell entorhinal cortex middle temporal gyrus Brodmann area 23 amygdala Top expressed in ventricular zone olfactory epithelium ganglionic eminence lip dentate gyrus of hippocampal formation granule cell septum transversum barrel cortex hand hippocampus proper hepatic diverticulum More reference expression data BioGPS More reference expression data
Gene ontology Molecular function metal ion binding sequence-specific DNA binding chromatin binding DNA binding RNA polymerase II cis-regulatory region sequence-specific DNA binding DNA-binding transcription activator activity, RNA polymerase II-specific DNA-binding transcription factor activity, RNA polymerase II-specific transcription factor binding RNA polymerase II transcription regulatory region sequence-specific DNA binding Cellular component nucleus intracellular anatomical structure Biological process negative regulation of transcription regulatory region DNA binding mesoderm development telencephalon development neural tube closure retina development in camera-type eye cerebral cortex development transcription, DNA-templated axon guidance axon extension hair follicle development maintenance of epithelial cell apical/basal polarity neurogenesis brain development olfactory bulb development nervous system development dorsal/ventral pattern formation positive regulation of transcription, DNA-templated regulation of transcription, DNA-templated positive regulation of transcription by RNA polymerase II neuron differentiation anatomical structure formation involved in morphogenesis telencephalon regionalization transcription by RNA polymerase II negative regulation of gene expression, epigenetic negative regulation of neurogenesis positive regulation of neural precursor cell proliferation Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs Species Human Mouse Entrez 9355 16870 Ensembl ENSG00000106689 ENSMUSG00000000247 UniProt P50458 Q9Z0S2 RefSeq (mRNA) NM_004789 NM_001290646 NM_010710 RefSeq (protein) NP_004780 NP_001277575 NP_034840 Location (UCSC) Chr 9: 124 – 124.03 Mb Chr 2: 38.23 – 38.26 Mb PubMed search [3] [4]
Wikidata
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Structure

LHX2 as part of the LIM gene family, it encodes for proteins with two N-terminal zinc-finger-like motifs called LIM domains and a homeobox domain.^[9] Due to the presence of the LIM domains which bind to zinc, LHX2 can form complexes like with LDB1 in mammals or binding with DNA through the HOX domain to activate genes.^[10][11]

Functions

The encoded protein may function as a transcriptional regulator. The protein can recapitulate or rescue phenotypes in Drosophila caused by a related protein, suggesting conservation of function during evolution.^[7]

The LIM domain of LHX2 has been shown to interact with MRG1 which further binds to CITED2 and enhances transcriptional activation of the α-subunit gene of the glycoprotein hormones.^[12]