POU3F1 (OCT6) is expressed in the anterior ectoderm of the gastrulating embryo and continues expression in the anterior neural plate and neural groove (inferred from mouse embryos in Zwart et al. 1996, Iwafuchi-Doi et al. 2012, Kondoh et al. 2016). POU3F1 is expressed at a significantly higher level in the anterior neural plate than in the posterior neural plate (inferred from mouse embryos Iwafuchi-Doi et al. 2012, Kondoh et al. 2016, reviewed in Tang et al. 2015). POU3F1 directly regulates a large number of neural markers including SOX2, ZNF521 (ZFP521), PAX6, ZEB2 (SIP1), ZIC2, and OTX2 (inferred from mouse embryos in Zhu et al. 2014). NANOG directly represses POU3F1 thereby limiting the timing and extent of neural differentiation (inferred from mouse embryos in Barral et al. 2019).