The process in which relatively unspecialized cells, e.g. embryonic or regenerative cells, acquire specialized structural and/or functional features that characterize the cells, tissues, or organs of the mature organism or some other relatively stable phase of the organism's life history. Differentiation includes the processes involved in commitment of a cell to a specific fate and its subsequent development to the mature state.
The process whose specific outcome is the progression of the central nervous system over time, from its formation to the mature structure. The central nervous system is the core nervous system that serves an integrating and coordinating function. In vertebrates it consists of the brain, spinal cord and spinal nerves. In those invertebrates with a central nervous system it typically consists of a brain, cerebral ganglia and a nerve cord.
J. Biol. Chem. 267, 21065-21071 (1992)[PubMed:1328219]
Human cDNA clones for NSCL-1 and NSCL-2, two basic domain helix-loop-helix (bHLH) genes expressed predominantly in the developing nervous system, were obtained from a fetal brain cDNA library. The full-length transcripts and the genomic structures were determined. The cDNAs for the two genes encode predicted proteins of similar size (133 and 135 amino acids for NSCL-1 and NSCL-2, respectively) and structure. The carboxyl-terminal 75 amino acids of the two proteins contain the bHLH motif and differ from each other by only three conservative amino acid changes, while the amino-terminal portions are markedly divergent from each other. In addition to the similar protein structure, the genes have a similar genomic organization, suggesting a close evolutionary relationship. The 5'-regulatory regions of the two genes share some features (i.e. potential TATA, CCAAT, and GATA binding sites) but also differ significantly in their G+C content. NSCL-1 is relatively G+C-rich (63%) in the sequences upstream of transcription initiation and has multiple potential binding sites for transcription factors that bind to G+C-rich sequences (e.g. AP-2). NSCL-2 is relatively A+T-rich (63%) in this region and has a potential binding site for AP1. Studies of expression in normal tissues demonstrated expression of NSCL-1 and NSCL-2 in the developing central and peripheral nervous system, most likely in developing neurons. Additional Northern analysis studies in cell lines revealed expression of these genes in some cell lines derived from tumors with neural or neuroendocrine features such as neuroblastoma, PNET, and small cell lung cancer. NSCL-1 is expressed in a larger number of these cell lines. The differences in expression may parallel differences in developmental regulation.
Protein involved in differentiation, the developmental process of a multicellular organism by which cells become specialized for particular functions. Differentiation requires selective expression of the genome; the fully differentiated state may be preceded by a stage in which the cell is already programmed for differentiation but is not yet expressing the characteristic phenotype determination. Also used for fungal conidiation proteins, and for some bacteria that present specialization of function in cell types, such as Caulobacter crescentus.
Protein involved in the transfer of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA) by DNA-directed RNA polymerase. In the case of some RNA viruses, protein involved in the transfer of genetic information from RNA to messenger RNA (mRNA) by RNA-directed RNA polymerase.
Protein involved in development, the process whereby a multicellular organism develops from its early immature forms, e.g., zygote, larva, embryo, into an adult.
A reference proteome is a set of protein sequences derived from a complete proteome which constitutes a defined standard for a particular user community. Reference proteomes are manually defined according to a number of criteria. They cover the proteomes of well- studied model organisms and other proteomes of interest for biomedical and biotechnological research. Reference proteomes have been selected to provide broad coverage of the tree of life, and constitute a representative cross-section of the taxonomic diversity to be found within UniProtKB.
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