Transcriptional activator. May function as a switch in neuronal development (By similarity). Downstream SRRT target that mediates the promotion of neural stem cell self-renewal (By similarity). At the shield stage, expressed uniformly in the future ectoderm. At the 75-80% epiboly stage, becomes localized to the presumptive neuroectoderm; strong expression in the presumptive forebrain, weak expression in the presumptive spinal cord. At the tail bud to 3-somite stage, expressed in distinct regions of the future brain, the anterior margin of the neural plate and the future retina. At the 12-somite stage, strong expression in the central nervous system rostral to the hindbrain, including the optic vesicle. At the 21- to 25-somite stage, strong expression in the retina, otic placode and cerebellum. At 28-50 hours post-fertilization, restricted to the ventricular zone of the hindbrain. At 5 days, expressed in the esophageal endoderm. Expressed zygotically. First detected at the 30% epiboly stage. The 9aaTAD motif is a transactivation domain present in a large number of yeast and animal transcription factors.