Table 1.

Key functions demonstrated for transcription factors expressed in both developing and mature hypothalamus.

Factor	Developmental function	Function in adult
Otp	Differentiation of the neurons of the aPV, PVN, and SON (Blechman et al., 2007; Eaton et al., 2008) Development of diencephalic dopaminergic neurons in zebrafish and mouse (Ryu et al., 2007) Required for expression of TH, CRH, TRH, SST, OT and AVP in the dorsal preoptic area and posterior tuberculum of zebrafish (Eaton et al., 2008; Löhr et al., 2009; Fernandes et al., 2013)	Regulation of CRH expression (Amir-Zilberstein et al., 2012) Maintenance of opn4a in the aPO, thus regulating dark photokinesis (Fernandes et al., 2012)
Sim1	Differentiation of TRH neurons in the PVN and SST neurons in the aPV (Schonemann et al., 1995; Michaud et al., 1998, 2000; Acampora et al., 1999; Wang and Lufkin, 2000; Keith et al., 2001; Goshu et al., 2004); Maintenance of Brn2 expression in the PVN and SON nuclei (Schonemann et al., 1995; Michaud et al., 1998, 2000; Acampora et al., 1999; Wang and Lufkin, 2000; Keith et al., 2001; Goshu et al., 2004) Together with Otp, required for expression of TH, CRH, TRH, SST, OT and AVP in the dorsal preoptic area and posterior tuberculum of zebrafish (Eaton et al., 2008; Löhr et al., 2009; Fernandes et al., 2013)	Control of OXT expression to affect appetite regulation (Kublaoui et al., 2006, 2008; Tolson et al., 2010)
SF-1	Terminal differentiation of VMN neurons (Tran et al., 2003)	Involvement in energy balance via maintenance of leptin-receptor (Dhillon et al., 2006) Regulation of BDNF expression (Xu et al., 2003) Modulation of the peripheral HPA axis in response to stress (Bland et al., 2000) Direct regulation of crhr2 expression in vitro (Zhao et al., 2008)