NeuroD: The Predicted and the Surprising

NeuroD (otherwise known as BETA2) is a basic helixloop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor that is capable of converting embryonic epidermal cells into fully differentiated neurons in Xenopus embryos. In insulinoma cells, NeuroD can bind and activate the insulin promoter. When NeuroD is deleted in mice, the early differentiating pancreatic endocrine cells and a subset of the neurons in the central and peripheral nervous systems die, resulting in...