Single-Cell Chromatin Accessibility Identifies Enhancer Networks Driving Gene Expression During Spinal Cord Development in Mouse
    作者: Muya Shu, Danni Hong, Hongli Lin, Jixiang Zhang, Zhengnan Luo, Yi Du, Zheng Sun, Man Yin, Yanyun Yin, Lifang Liu, Shilai Bao, Zhiyong Liu, Falong Lu, Jialiang Huang, Jianwu Dai
    刊物名称: Developmental Cell
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    摘要:
    Spinal cord development is precisely orchestrated by spatiotemporal gene regulatory programs. However, the underlying epigenetic mechanisms remain largely elusive. Here, we profiled single-cell chromatin accessibility landscapes in mouse neural tubes spanning embryonic days 9.5-13.5. We identified neuronal-cell-cluster-specific cis-regulatory elements in neural progenitors and neurons. Furthermore, we applied a novel computational method, eNet, to build enhancer networks by integrating single-cell chromatin accessibility and gene expression data and identify the hub enhancers within enhancer networks. It was experimentally validated in vivo for Atoh1 that knockout of the hub enhancers, but not the non-hub enhancers, markedly decreased Atoh1 expression and reduced dp1/dI1 cells. Together, our work provides insights into the epigenetic regulation of spinal cord development and a proof-of-concept demonstration of enhancer networks as a general mechanism in transcriptional regulation.