[7][8] DLX genes, like distal-less, are involved in limb development in most of the major phyla.
[3] DLX genes are involved in craniofacial morphogenesis[9][10] and the tangential migration of interneurons from the subpallium to the pallium during vertebrate brain development.
[11] It has been suggested that DLX promotes the migration of interneurons by repressing a set of proteins that are normally expressed in terminally differentiated neurons and act to promote the outgrowth of dendrites and axons.
[12] Mice lacking DLX1 exhibit electrophysiological and histological evidence consistent with delayed-onset epilepsy.
[13] DLX2 has been associated with a number of areas including development of the zona limitans intrathalamica and the prethalamus.