The endocrine pancreas is comprised of  and ␣ cells producing the glucostatic hormones insulin and glucagon, respectively, and arises during development by the differentiation of stem/progenitor cells in the foregut programmed by the  cell lineage-specific homeodomain protein Idx-1. Brain-4 (Brn-4) is expressed in the pancreatic anlaga of the mouse foregut at e10 in the ␣ cells and transactivates glucagon gene expression. We expressed Brn-4 in pancreatic precursors or  cell lineage in transgenic mice by placing it under either Idx-1 or insulin promoter (rat insulin II promoter) control, respectively. Idx-1 expression occurs at developmental day e8.5, and insulin expression occurs at e9.5, respectively. Misexpression of Brn-4 by the Idx-1 promoter results in ectopic expression of the proglucagon gene in insulin-expressing pancreatic  cells, whereas misexpression by rat insulin II promoter did not. The early developmental expression of Brn-4 appears to be a dominant regulator of the glucagon expressing ␣ cell lineage, even in the context of the  cell lineage.The mammalian pancreas develops by the differentiation of endodermal stem/progenitor cells in the foregut of the developing embryo (Refs. 1-3 and references therein). These progenitor cells differentiate into the exocrine acinar cells that produce digestive enzymes and the endocrine islets of Langerhans consisting of the four types of cells specialized for the synthesis of the hormones glucagon (␣ cells), insulin ( cells), somatostatin (␦ cells), and pancreatic polypeptide (PP cells). Islet cell-specific differentiation requires the actions of the basic loop helix transcription factors neurogenin-3, 2/NeuroD, and the homeodomain proteins Isl-1, Pax4, Pax6, Nkx2.2, Nkx6.6, and Idx-1 (see Refs. 1-4 for review). Idx-1 (Pdx-1/Stf-1/Ipf-1) is transiently expressed in all pancreatic cells as well as in the epithelial layer of the duodenal mucosa during early embryogenesis (5-8). During development, Idx-1 becomes progressively confined to the endocrine  cells where it is critical for the transcriptional regulation of the insulin gene (6, 9). Idx-1 null mice (7), as well as a child homozygous for an inactivating mutation of the Idx-1 (Ipf-1) gene (10), result in a failure of the pancreas to develop (pancreatic agenesis).Brn-4 is a member of the class III family of pou-homeodomain proteins that are highly expressed in neural stem cells and regulate stem cell-specific genes, such as the intermediate filament protein nestin (11, 12). During early pancreas development, the expression of Brn-4 is specifically restricted to stem/progenitor cells that later differentiate into glucagon-producing ␣ cells (13). Brn-4 has not been detected in either differentiating or mature  cells. Brn-4 also stimulates glucagon gene expression by interaction with the ␣ cell-specific G 1 promoter element within the glucagon gene (14).Here we describe that the developmental misexpression of Brn-4 under the control of the mouse Idx-1 promoter (MIP) 1 in mice results in the ectopic expres...