Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2025

Publisher

Nature Publishing

Source Publication

Scientific Reports

Source ISSN

2045-2322

Abstract

Neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) display a high capacity for axon growth during early development but lose this ability at a pivotal differentiation stage marked by synaptic maturation, circuit integration, and a profound shift in gene transcription. Once mature, most CNS neurons fail to reverse this transcriptional switch after axon injury, fundamentally constraining their intrinsic capacity for axon regeneration. Here, we show with single-nucleus RNA sequencing that forced expression of the transcription factor Sox11 in mature corticospinal tract (CST) neurons produces large-scale and stable changes in gene expression that are highly enriched for growth-relevant processes, and which strongly resemble those of pre-synaptic embryonic stages. Moreover, Sox11 is equally effective when delivered to chronically injured CST neurons. These data reveal Sox11’s ability to reverse a critical step of neuronal maturation even in otherwise unperturbed neurons, clarifying the transcriptional underpinnings and highlighting Sox11 as a potent regulator of pro-regenerative gene networks.

Comments

Published version. Scientific Reports, Vol. 16 (2026). DOI. © 2025 The Authors and published by Springer Nature. Used with permission.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material.

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