Probable transcription factor. Promotes both hatching gland and neural crest cell fates, two of the cell populations that arise from the neural plate border. Acts downstream of msx1 to induce the neural crest, cooperating with zic1 and mediating signals from both the wnt and fgf8 signaling pathways. Induction of hatching gland cell fate is independent of zic1. Expressed in the dorsolateral ectoderm during early and mid-gastrula stages. At late-gastrula and neurula stages, expressed in the lateral neural plate, becoming progressively refined to the neural folds during convergence and extension. Expression is also restricted in the A/P axis, extending into the midbrain but excluded from the forebrain. By wnt-signaling from the posterior mesoderm. Belongs to the paired homeobox family.