Germline specific transcription factor implicated in postnatal oocyte-specific gene expression. Plays a key regulatory role in the expression of multiple oocyte-specific genes, including those that initiate folliculogenesis and those that encode the zona pellucida (ZP1, ZP2 and ZP3) required for fertilization and early embryonic survival. Essential for oocytes to survive and form primordial follicles. The persistence of FIGLA in adult females suggests that it may regulate additional pathways that are essential for normal ovarian development. Binds to the E-box (5'-CANNTG-3') of the ZPs (ZP1, ZP2, ZP3) promoters. Heterodimer with TCF3/isoform E12. Germ cells. Expressed in the fetal ovary, but not by a range of other tissues. Expression increases across mid-gestation, rising some 40-fold by the time of primordial follicle formation. Expressed in ovarian follicles (from the primordial through to the secondary stage), in mature oocytes, and less frequently in preimplantation embryos. The disease is caused by variants affecting the gene represented in this entry.