POU family

POU (pronounced 'pow') is a family of proteins that have well-conserved homeodomains.

Function
POU proteins are eukaryotic transcription factors containing a bipartite DNA binding domain referred to as the POU domain.

The various members of the POU family have a wide variety of functions, all of which are related to the development of an organism.

Etymology
The acronym POU is derived from the names of three mammalian transcription factors:
 * the pituitary-specific Pit-1
 * the octamer-binding proteins Oct-1 and Oct-2 (octamer sequence is ATGCAAAT)
 * the neural Unc-86 from Caenorhabditis elegans.

Diversity
POU domain genes have been described in organisms as divergent as Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, Xenopus, zebrafish and human but have not been yet identified in plants and fungi.