ReviewSchwann cells and their transcriptional network: Evolution of key regulators of peripheral myelination

- The regulatory network in Schwann cells is a new vertebrate invention.
- Sox10, Oct6 and Krox20 act as central transcriptional regulators of peripheral myelination.
- Acquisition of regulatory functions likely involved neofunctionalization.

As derivatives of the neural crest, Schwann cells represent a vertebrate invention. Their development and differentiation is under control of a newly constructed, vertebrate-specific regulatory network that contains Sox10, Oct6 and Krox20 as cornerstones and central regulators of peripheral myelination. In this review, we discuss the function and relationship of these transcription factors among each other and in the context of their regulatory network, and present ideas of how neofunctionalization may have helped to recruit them to their novel task in Schwann cells.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Myelin Evolution.