FOXGl expression in precursor cells regulates cortex formation and brain development

Abstract

Forkhead box G1(FOXG1) is an important brain-specific transcription repressor, which plays a variety of important roles in brain development. In the population, the absence of FOXG1 can cause symptoms such as microcephaly and cognitive impairment in patients; while the overexpression of FOXG1 can cause problems such as infantile spasms and developmental delay. FOXG1 regulates the cell cycle by inhibiting or activating the transcription of several major factors involved in the cell cycle. Expressed in progenitor cells, FOXG1 can promote the expansion of the progenitor pool and avoid the premature differentiation of the progenitor cells to ensure the normal development of the brain. In this review, we briefly introduce the mechanism by which FOXG1 regulates the cell cycle and the brain development events that are affected by it in the process.