Potential regulator of neural basic helix-loop-helix genes. It may down-regulate expression of ASCL1 and, within the thalamus, up-regulate NGN2, thereby regulating distinct patterns of neuronal differentiation. Expressed in the ganglion cell layer of the retina in the eye and in the ventral zone of the dorsal thalamus of the CNS. Transiently expressed during embryonic development of the nervous system, detected at 11.5 days old (E11.5) and declining after E15.5. Belongs to the BAR homeobox family.