self-renewal of neural stem cells. Noteworthy are the findings that β-catenin promotes neural precursor cell proliferation through the activation of LEF/TCF transcription factors. Interestingly, nuclear accumulated β-catenin also induces antineurogenic hes1 gene expression through the enhancement of Notch1- and RBP-J –mediated transcription. β-catenin can associate with the Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD), and it is present in a nuclear protein-DNA complex containing the hes1 gene promoter. The β-catenin–NICD complex is efficiently formed when transcriptional coactivators p300 and P/CAF both are present (Shimizu et al., 2008).
