May function as transcriptional repressor. May modulate the expression of genes required for the differentiation and/or maintenance of pancreatic and neuronal cell types. May be important for rod bipolar cell maturation. Expressed in brain and retina. Expression is confined to regions of the developing nervous system and pancreas. At 13 dpc expressed at lower levels in the trigeminal ganglion, the ganglionic eminence, the ventral neural tube, and dorsal root ganglia. Expressed at moderate levels in the tectum of the embryonic midbrain. Most prominent expression is in the diencephalon, where it flanks either side of the roof of the third ventricle, dorsal/caudal to the dorsal thalamus. Detected in the pancreas during the time when most of the pancreatic endocrine cell types are beginning to differentiate and endocrine precursor cells remain loosely associated with the duct epithelium until they begin to form aggregates late in development. Disrupted rod signaling and profound retinal dysfunction.