Structures and properties of PAX linked regulatory networks architecting and pacing the emergence of neuronal diversity

Over the past two decades, Pax proteins have received a lot of attention from researchers working on the generation and assembly of neural circuits during vertebrate development. Through tissue or cell based phenotypic analyses, or more recently using genome-wide approaches, they have highlighted the pleiotropic functions of Pax proteins during neurogenesis. This review discusses the wide range of molecular and cellular mechanisms by which these transcription factors control in time and space the number and identity of neurons produced during development. We first focus on the position of Pax proteins within gene regulatory networks that generate patterns of cellular differentiation within the central nervous system. Next, the architecture of Pax-linked regulatory loops that provide a tempo of differentiation to progenitor cells is presented. Finally, we examine the molecular foundations providing a “multitasking” property to Pax proteins. Amongst the Pax factors that are expressed within the developing nervous system, Pax6 is the most extensively studied and thus holds a dominant position in this article.