Previous studies have indicated that () plays an important role in neural development and degenerative diseases. However, the bioactivity and regulatory mechanism of expression in retinal neurocytes remain unclear. In the present study, our data indicated that maintains the state of neuronal precursor cells. silencing induces differentiation in 661W cells. , a marker of precursor cells, was significantly decreased in parallel with silencing in 661W cells, whereas (), a marker of differentiated neurons, was significantly increased. Neurite outgrowth was increased by ~4.0-fold in -silenced cells. Moreover, DNA affinity purification assays and ChIP assays demonstrated that () regulates transcription in 661W cells. Silencing or overexpressing could significantly regulate the expression of and affect its promoter inducibility. Furthermore, the expression of generally occurred in parallel with that of in developing mouse retinas. Both and are expressed in the neonatal mouse retina but are developmentally silenced with age. Exogenous significantly inhibited neural activity by decreasing synaptophysin and neurite outgrowth. Thus, this study demonstrated that is transcriptionally regulated by . / silencing is involved in neuronal differentiation and maturation.