May act as a component of a corepressor complex that represses transcription. Predominantly, but not exclusively, expressed in neural tissue. Strongly expressed in neural domains of the developing brain of the developing mouse CNS. During early development (7 dpc to 8.5 dpc), it is uniformly distributed, with a higher expression in the presumptive neural tissue (head region) while it is not expressed in the heart. From 9 dpc on, it becomes increasingly restricted to the developing brain and spinal cord. With the exception of the floor plate, it is expressed in many cell clusters in the neural tube at that stage. Expressed in dorsal root ganglia and in the neural retina (sensory layer of the retina) of embryos from 11 dpc on throughout development. During mid-gestation, it is particularly expressed in neural tissue thereby shifting to the intermediate and distal layers of the expanding intraneural domains. From late gestational stages on, pronounced expression is detectable only in selected areas of the brain such as the retrospinal cortex. Expressed in neural cell layers in the hypothalamic region at postnatal day 5. In adult brains, it is expressed in many neural cells of the differentiated cortex. Expression is also observed in non-neural tissue such as the developing limbs where it becomes restricted to the interdigital areas. Strongly expressed in the odontoblast layer of the developing teeth and the maxillary bone. In the cerebellum, it is already expressed before the lobules form. At 14 dpc, it is uniformly distributed in the cerebellar rudiment. When lobulation becomes evident, expression is detectable only in the proliferating granule cells of the outermost layer (external granular layer). Belongs to the CoREST family.