Genome-wide identification of target genes for the transcription factors Sox2 and Sox3 in differentiated primary mouse oligodendrocytes

To identify target genes of the transcription factors Sox2 and Sox3 in oligodendroglia in a genome-wide and unbiased approach, we cultured primary mouse oligodendroglia of wild type mice and mice with floxed alleles for Sox2 and Sox3, treated the cells with Tat-Cre to induce recombination, then kept cells under differentiating conditions, and isolated total RNA for RNA-Seq studies. Among others we detected substantial changes in the expression of genes associated with the onset of terminal differentiation of oligodendrocytes. To identify potential target genes of the transcription factors Sox2 and Sox3 during the onset of oligodendroglial terminal differentiation, we generated wild type (Sox2Sox3_ctrl) and Sox2;Sox3-kockout (Sox2Sox3_dko) primary mouse oligodendroglia, performed RNA-Seq with the isolated total RNA after four days of differentiation, and generated comparative gene expression profiles.