Dual transcriptional activities of PAX3 and PAX7 spatially encode spinal cell fates through distinct gene networks.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how transcription factors regulate organized cellular diversity in developing tissues remains a major challenge due to their pleiotropic functions. We addressed this by monitoring and genetically modulating the activity of PAX3 and PAX7 during the specification of neural progenitor pools in the embryonic spinal cord. Using mouse models, we show that the balance between the transcriptional activating and repressing functions of these factors is modulated along the dorsoventral axis and is instructive to the patterning of spinal progenitor pools. By combining loss-of-function experiments with functional genomics in spinal organoids, we demonstrate that PAX-mediated repression and activation rely on distinct cis-regulatory genomic modules. This enables both the coexistence of th

SUBMITTER: Rondon R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12574859 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature