A Fox stops the Wnt: implications for forebrain development and diseases

In recent years, much progress has been made in understanding the process by which the brain is organised into specific regions. Much less is known about the way neuronal subtypes are defined inside these areas and how the temporal control of connectivity between neurons is achieved. Our thought processes and behaviours depend upon the development of neuronal circuits located in the most anterior brain area: the telencephalon (forming our cerebral cortex). The transcription factor Foxg1 is crucial to the development of specific neuronal fates inside this region and recent findings in zebrafish and mouse unveiled its impact as an integrator of telencephalic signalling centres. This essential regulatory activity may be key to understand Foxg1-dependent human disorders.