a neuroblast and a transit amplifying Intermediate Neural Progenitor (INP). INPs divide in a manner similar to type I neuroblasts, producing an INP and a ganglion mother cell. While only 8 type II neuroblasts exist in the central brain, their lineages are both much larger and more complex than type I neuroblasts. The switch from pluripotent neuroblast to differentiated cell fate is facilitated by the proteins Prospero, Numb, and Miranda. Prospero is a transcription factor that triggers differentiation. It is expressed in neuroblasts, but is kept out of the nucleus by Miranda, which tethers it to the cell basal cortex. This also results in asymmetric division, where Prospero localizes in only one out of the two daughter cells. After division, Prospero enters the nucleus, and the cell it is present in becomes the GMC. Neuroblasts are capable of giving rise to the vast neural diversity present in the fly brain using a combination of spatial and temporal restriction of gene expression that give progeny born from each neuroblast a unique identity depending both their parent neuroblast and their birth date. This is partly based on the position of the neuroblast along the Anterior/Posterior and Dorsal/Ventral axes, and partly on a temporal sequence of transcription factors that are expressed in a specific order as neuroblasts undergo sequential divisions. See also Neuroblastoma Posterior column List of human cell types derived from the germ layers References Embryology of nervous system Cell biology