Nasal embryonic LHRH Factor (NELF)

NELF is involved in guidance of olfactory axon projections and migration of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone neurons. Defects in this gene are a cause of idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH). Several transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.

Nelf was expressed in peripheral and central nervous system tissues during embryonic development, including olfactory sensory cells and LHRH cells.One of the variants, NELF-v1, has 93 to 94% identity at the amino acid level to mouse and rat Nelf, and 4 other transcripts are also highly conserved among human, rat, and mouse. A 3.0-kb transcript is expressed most highly in the adult and fetal brain, testis, and kidney, indicating that NELF plays a role in the function of these tissues.