Gene ontology (GO) is the classification of genetic products into three distinct, but explanatory concepts: molecular function,biological process and cellular component.
Molecular Function is what specific action the product does. Biological Process is the overall pathway that the protein products are involved in, usually part of a larger network of genetic products.
Cellular Component describes a location or part of a cell that the gene product is a part of [1]
FOXN1 Gene Ontology
In order to determine Gene Ontology, AmiGO 2 was used by searching for GO annotations for FOXN1. This was then filtered to only include annotations for Homo sapiens and for the target concept (molecular function, biological process or cellular component)
Molecular Function
DNA-Binding Transcription Factor Activity
Biological Process
Activation of Epithelial Cell Differentiation
Cellular Component
Chromatin
Discussion
The GO terms DNA-binding transcription factor activity, activation of epithelial cell differentiation and chromatin all support that FOXN1 plays a role in regulation of epithelial cell differentiation through gene regulation. In T-cell immunodeficiency, congenital alopecia, and nail dystrophy, symptoms occur due to a lack in epithelial cell differentiation in various organ systems including the thymus and skin, consistent with these annotations. What is still unclear is what genes are differentially regulated, to cause this phenotype.