SOX1 is a gene that encodes a transcription factor with a HMG-box (high mobility group) DNA-binding domain and functions primarily in neurogenesis. SOX1 exerts its importance in its role in development of the central nervous system (neurogenesis) and in particular the development of the eye, where it is functionally redundant with SOX3 and to a lesser degree SOX2, and maintenance of neural progenitor cell identity. SOX1 expression is restricted to the neuroectoderm by proliferating progenitor cells in the tetrapod embryo.