Is PAX6 a gene?

The PAX6 gene belongs to a family of genes that play a critical role in the formation of tissues and organs during embryonic development. The members of the PAX gene family are also important for maintaining the normal function of certain cells after birth.

What is Pax disease?

Mutation of PAX2 in humans has been associated with renal-coloboma syndrome as well as oligomeganephronia. PAX3 has been identified with ear, eye and facial development. It transcribes a 479 amino acid protein in humans. Mutations in it can cause Waardenburg syndrome.

What kind of gene is eyeless?

The eyeless (ey) gene, which belongs to the group of Pax-6 genes, was shown to be essential for compound eye development (1). In Drosophila embryos, it is expressed in the eye disc primordia and in the central nervous system (CNS).

What is PAX6 a marker for?

Pax6 is a highly conserved transcription factor among vertebrates and is important in various aspects of the central nervous system development. However, the gene regulatory circuitry of Pax6 underlying these functions remains elusive. We find that Pax6 targets a large number of promoters in neural progenitors cells.

What does how many Pax mean?

Essentially, pax means people/persons/occupants, as succinctly expressed by Callithumpian’s answer (apparently it was used as early as the 40s; it became a standard term in the UK Passenger Transport industry in the 70s). I worked in the bus industry for many years. Pax isn’t exactly shorthand for Passengers.

What do PAX genes do?

Pax genes are a family of developmental control genes that encode nuclear transcription factors. They are characterized by the presence of the paired domain, a conserved amino acid motif with DNA-binding activity. In vertebrates, Pax genes are also involved in embryogenesis.

Is the Pax6 gene homologous?

Pax6 is an ancient gene, homologous at least at the level of Bilateria. Following its origin, Pax6 was co-opted to become involved in the development of a number of different structures in different lineages.

What are ectopic eyes?

The ectopic eyes appeared morphologically normal and consisted of groups of fully differentiated ommatidia with a complete set of photoreceptor cells. These results support the proposition that ey is the master control gene for eye morphogenesis.

What happens when the eyeless gene is damaged?

eyeless is required for normal development of the Drosophila eye, as mutations in the eyeless gene result in irregular facets as well as in a reduction of eye size (Lindsley and Zimm, 1992).