{
  "abstract": "The neocortex is organized along a dominant sensorimotor-to-association (S-A) axis, anchored by modality-specific primary sensorimotor areas at one end and transmodal association areas that form distributed networks supporting abstract cognition at the other. The developmental mechanisms shaping this axis remain elusive. Here, we present converging multispecies evidence supporting the Multinodal Induction-Exclusion in Network Development (MIND) model, in which S-A patterning is governed by competing processes of induction and exclusion, driven by opposing transcriptomically-defined identity programs emerging from different nodes. Key molecular and connectional features of association cortices arise through pericentral programs, originating around fronto-temporal poles and partially regulated by retinoic acid. They progress inward toward central territories of the naïve neocortex along fronto-temporally polarized trajectories. Central programs are induced through interactions between topographically separated first-order sensorimotor thalamocortical inputs and the neocortex, promoting the formation of primary areas while excluding pericentral programs. Influenced by SATB2 and ZBTB18, these evolutionarily conserved programs compete for the same territory and create spatial compartmentalization of axon guidance, cell-cell adhesion, retinoic acid signaling, synaptogenesis, Wnt signaling, and autism risk genes. Notably, PLXNC1 and SEMA7A exhibit anti-correlated expression and repulsive functions in shaping cortico-cortical connectivity along the S-A axis. These processes of induction and exclusion establish an S-A equilibrium and topography in which primary sensorimotor areas emerge as focal islands within the broader ocean of distributed associative networks. The MIND model provides a unifying framework for understanding experimental, evolutionary, and clinical phenomena, revealing induction and exclusion as antagonistic complementary principles shaping the S-A axis and processing hierarchies.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA",
    "Laboratory for Molecular Mechanisms of Brain Development, Center for Brain Science, RIKEN, Wako, Japan",
    "Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA",
    "Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA",
    "Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "Department of Medicine (Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "Yale Genome Editing Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA",
    "Laboratory of Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium",
    "College of Health and Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar",
    "Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA",
    "Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China",
    "Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
    "Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
    "Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Department of Neuroscience, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu",
    "Yale Genome Editing Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. nenad.sestan@yale.edu"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 38,
  "authors": [
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Jeremiah Tsyporin",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6588-6840"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Menglei Zhang",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-0418-7377"
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Cai Qi",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7654-0754"
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        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ashlea Segal",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7451-6195"
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Xinyun Li",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-2590-6073"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Hyo‐Jin Kim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6636-5745"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sang-Hun Choi"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Ivan Pavlović",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9687-6231"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Sara Bandiera",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1203-8554"
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      ],
      "name": "Thomas S. Finn",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4522-5321"
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      "name": "Suel–Kee Kim",
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      "name": "Akemi Shibata",
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      "name": "Takumi Nakamura"
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        3
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      "name": "Kohei Onishi",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5811-4607"
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        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Ziqin Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8941-2834"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Elijah Hammarlund"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Graham Su",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4170-0180"
    },
    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Nikkita Salla",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5343-676X"
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    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Joy Kachko",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-8209-3826"
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    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Christi Hawley"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Shuiyu Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Z. Doyle",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8959-5906"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Xueyan Peng",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0306-1082"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Timothy Nottoli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2218-5590"
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    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Nuria Ruiz-Reig",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7008-7920"
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    {
      "affs": [
        10,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Fadel Tissir",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9292-6622"
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    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Yasushi Nakagawa",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4876-5718"
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    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Erica L. Herzog",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7508-8575"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Shaojie Ma",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8782-3047"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kevin T. Gobeske",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2850-9197"
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    {
      "affs": [
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        1,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Kartik Pattabiraman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3924-426X"
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        3
      ],
      "name": "Tomomi Shimogori",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6931-5401"
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      "affs": [
        0
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      "name": "Alvaro Duque"
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        13,
        14
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      "name": "Alex Fornito",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9134-480X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Hao Huang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9103-4382"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mikihito Shibata",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-5588-4583"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Bin Chen",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1962-3593"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15,
        16,
        17,
        18,
        19,
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      "name": "Nenad Šestan",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0966-9619"
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  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/061js0pfvk5mn.bib",
  "cited_by": 13,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41586-026-10699-x",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "061js0pfvk5mn",
  "issns": [
    "0028-0836",
    "1476-4687"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10699-x",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2806|Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms"
    ]
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  "openalex": "W4411716892",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC12262509",
  "pmid": "40666864",
  "published": "2026-07-01",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/061js0pfvk5mn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:53Z",
      "native_id": "W4411716892",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10699-x"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2806|Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Competing programs shape cortical sensorimotor–association axis development",
  "title_text": "Competing programs shape cortical sensorimotor–association axis development",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T13:20:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/061js0pfvk5mn",
  "venue": "Nature",
  "versions": []
}