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Table 3 Functional classes of bHLH proteins

From: An overview of the basic helix-loop-helix proteins

Phylogenetic class bHLH family Example mammalian protein Function
A MyoD Myf4 Myogenic: initiates myogenic programme in many cell types
  NeuroD Neurogenic differentiation factor NDF2 Neurogenic: involved in terminal neurone differentiation
  SCL Tal1 Hematopoietic: essential for primitive hematopoiesis and invokes enhanced proliferation and differentiation during erythroid development
  Hand dHand Cardiogenic: regulates the morphogenetic events of asymmetric heart development
B Myc c-Myc Cell proliferation and differentiation; oncogenic
  Mad Mad1 Regulation of cell proliferation
  SREBP SREBP-2 Cholesterol metabolism
C Sim Single-minded 1 (Sim1) Neurogenic: regulation of midline cell lineage in the central nervous system
D Emc Id1 Myogenic and neurogenic: negative inhibition of DNA binding
E Hairy Hes1 Neurogenic: restricts differentiation of neurons from neural precursor cells
F Coe Early B-cell factor (EBF1) Hematopoietic: essential for B-cell development
  1. Examples of mammalian proteins and their diverse functions are shown for each phylogenetic group of bHLH proteins. The phylogenetic groups are those indicated in Table 1 and discussed in the text.
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