Work

Single-cell co-mapping reveals relationship between chromatin state and gene expression in early zebrafish development

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Establishing a cell-type-specific chromatin landscape is crucial for the maintenance of cell identity during embryonic development. However, our knowledge of how this landscape is set during vertebrate embryogenesis has been limited, due to the lack of methods to jointly detect chromatin modifications and gene expression in the same cell. Here we present a multimodal measurement of full-length transcriptome and histone modifications in individual cells during early embryonic development in zebrafish. We show that before the formation of germ layers, the chromatin and transcription states of cells are uncoupled, and become progressively connected during gastrulation and somitogenesis. Silencing of developmental genes is achieved by local spreading of repressive chromatin together with cell-type specific demethylation. Combining transcription factor (TF) expression and chromatin states within an interpretable machine learning model, we classify TFs as lineage-specific activators and repressors and identify a subset of TFs that are epigenetically regulated. Altogether, our data resolves the dynamic relationship between chromatin and transcription during early vertebrate development and clarifies how these two layers interact to establish cell identity.

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.110400.2

Authors: Vivek Bhardwaj, Alberto Griffa, Helena Viñas Gaza, Peter Zeller, Alexander van Oudenaarden

Institutions: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, Oncode Institute

Language: English

Topic: Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,500