Ikzf1 - IKAROS family zinc finger 1

The protein encoded by this gene belongs to a family of transcription factors that are characterized by a set of four DNA-binding zinc fingers at the N-terminus and two C-terminal zinc fingers involved in protein dimerization. It is regulated by both epigenetic and transcription factors. This protein is a transcriptional regulator of hematopoietic cell development and homeostasis. In addition, it is required to confer temporal competence to retinal progenitor cells during embryogenesis, demonstrating an essential function in nervous system development. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2014]