The regulatory code of injury-responsive enhancers enables precision cell-state targeting in the CNS.

ABSTRACT: Enhancer elements direct cell-type-specific gene expression programs. After injury, cells change their transcriptional state to adapt to stress and initiate repair. Here we investigate how injury-induced transcriptional programs are encoded within enhancers in the mammalian CNS. Leveraging single-nucleus transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility profiling, we identify thousands of injury-induced, cell-type-specific enhancers in the mouse spinal cord after a contusion injury. These are abundant in glial cells and retain cell-type specificity, even when regulating shared wound response genes. By modeling glial injury-responsive enhancers using deep learning, we reveal that their architecture encodes cell-type specificity by integrating generic stimulus response elements with cell identity

SUBMITTER: Zamboni M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12880913 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature