Nuclear Receptor Transcription factors promote axon regeneration in the Adult Corticospinal Tract

Abstract

Transcription factors are potent levers for neural repair, but which factors govern regenerative capacity in the corticospinal tract remains largely unknown. By intersecting developmental RNA-seq with ATAC-seq footprinting, we identified two nuclear-receptor transcription factors, NR2F1 and NR2F6, neither previously linked to CNS axon growth, whose chromatin occupancy at pro-growth enhancers is progressively lost as neurons mature. Forced expression of either factor significantly increased neurite outgrowth in single-neuron tracing assays, and each drove strong cross-midline sprouting after pyramidotomy and long-tract CST regeneration after complete thoracic crush, with concordant recovery of hip-rise kinematics and grip strength. Parallel multi-omic profiling (CUT&RUN, snRNA-seq and Ribo-seq) of both factors together with NR2F6 Hi-C revealed distinct mechanisms: NR2F1 reactivated chromatin-remodeling and cytoskeletal programs, whereas NR2F6, via a conserved corepressor domain, re-occupied developmental enhancers, reorganized three-dimensional chromatin architecture into new topologically associating domains, and imposed a transient translational down-shift in which growth-relevant modules were selectively preserved through translational buffering. Together, these data identify NR2F nuclear receptors as regulators of corticospinal regeneration, acting through enhancer redeployment, translational reprogramming and three-dimensional genome reorganization.