Sequence-specific transcription factor which is part of a developmental regulatory system that provides cells with specific positional identities on the anterior-posterior axis. Homeotic protein controlling Drosophila head development. Transcriptional activator of the apoptotic activator protein rpr in cells at the maxillary/mandibular boundary. Expressed in the mandibular and maxillary segments of the head, with some expression in the posterior intercalary segment which become part of the CNS. In the imaginal tissues, expressed in part of the eye antennal disk which give rise to portions of the head capsule and to a small patch of expression in the basal-most portion of the labial disk. Belongs to the Antp homeobox family. Deformed subfamily.