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Myelination is essential for normal brain function, yet the mechanisms governing neuron-oligodendrocyte interactions that ensure proper myelination levels remain poorly understood. Here, we identify transcription factor EB (TFEB) as a molecular link that connects extrinsic neuronal cues to intrinsic oligodendrocyte transcriptional programs, regulating central nervous system myelination. Using a TFEB epitope-tagged knock-in mouse model, we find that neurons sequester most of the TFEB protein in the cytoplasm of myelinating oligodendrocytes. Genetic induction of nuclear TFEB in myelinating oligodendrocytes leads to severe hypomyelination and altered neural function. Lastly, cleavage under targets & release using nuclease and functional analyses reveal that TFEB directly binds to the promoter regions of many cholesterol biosynthesis genes and represses their expression, thereby reducing cholesterol levels. Our findings uncover a mechanism by which neurons limit a repressive transcriptional network in oligodendrocytes to ensure proper myelination, highlighting the complex interplay between neuronal signals and glial gene regulation in health and disease.
Zhang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.