Molecular Analysis of the Differential Activity of Sox8 and Sox10 in Oligodendroglial Cells.

Oligodendroglial cells generate myelin sheaths in the vertebrate central nervous system to render rapid saltatory conduction possible and express the highly related Sox8, Sox9 and Sox10 transcription factors. While Sox9 and Sox10 fulfill crucial regulatory roles, Sox8 has only a limited impact on oligodendroglial development and myelination. By replacing Sox10 with Sox8 or Sox9 in the oligodendroglial Oln93 cell line, and comparing the expression profiles, we show here that Sox8 regulates the same processes as Sox10 and Sox9, but exhibits a substantially lower transcriptional activity under standard culture conditions.