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Genome-wide maps of chromatin accessibility governing the transition from founder cells to distinct fate-restricted cardiopharyngeal precursors

ABSTRACT: We used the assay for transposon-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) on FACS-purified cells to profile chromatin accessibility during early cardiopharyngeal fate choices in Ciona. We obtained ~500 million unique reads from samples comprising cardiopharyngeal mesoderm and mesenchymal cells, as well as whole Ciona embryos and genomic DNA control. We combined ATAC-seq peaks from all the replicates to generate an atlas of 56,090 unique and non-overlapping accessible regions (accessome) covering 9.25% of the C. robusta genome. We used the accessome to analyze differential accessibility and integrated expression data to compare the chromatin and gene expression dynamics underlying cardiopharyngeal fate specification. In summary, we revealed that most changes in accessibility occur upon induction of multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors from the founder cells. Comparing differential expression to differential accessibility shows that genes activated in the multipotent progenitors tend to have regions that specifically open nearby them. We found that the elements accessible specifically in multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors were enriched in Fox, GATA and nuclear receptor binding motifs. CRISPR-mediated loss of Foxf function followed by FACS, ATAC-seq and RNA-seq showed that Foxf is required to open ~22% of the cardiopharyngeal-specific elements. Notably, elements associated with de novo expressed genes, which turn on either in heart or pharyngeal muscle progenitors, were also opening in multipotent progenitors, whereas only ~10% of differentially expressed genes had differentially accessible elements. Finally, we propose a general model for chromatin dynamics whereby most lineage-specific elements open in multipotent progenitors, and control both early pan-cardiopharyngeal and late cell-type-specific expression.

ORGANISM(S): Ciona robusta

PROVIDER: GSE126691 | GEO | 2019/11/25

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Dynamic gene expression programs determine multipotent cell states and fate choices during development. Multipotent progenitors for cardiomyocytes and branchiomeric head muscles populate the pharyngeal mesoderm of vertebrate embryos, but the mechanisms underlying cardiopharyngeal multipotency and heart vs. head muscle fate choices remain elusive. The tunicate Ciona emerged as a simple chordate model to study cardiopharyngeal development with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. We analyzed the transcriptome of single cardiopharyngeal lineage cells isolated at successive time points encompassing the transitions from multipotent progenitors to distinct first and second heart, and pharyngeal muscle precursors. We reconstructed the three cardiopharyngeal developmental trajectories, and characterized gene expression dynamics and regulatory states underlying each fate choice. Experimental perturbations and bulk transcriptome analyses revealed that ongoing FGF/MAPK signaling maintains cardiopharyngeal multipotency and promotes the pharyngeal muscle fate, whereas signal termination permits the deployment of a full pan-cardiac program and heart fate specification. We identified the Dach1/2 homolog as a novel evolutionarily conserved second-heart-field-specific factor and demonstrate, through lineage tracing and CRISPR/Cas9 perturbations, that it operates downstream of Tbx1/10 to actively suppress the first heart lineage program. This data indicates that the regulatory state of multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors determines the first vs. second heart lineage choice, and that Tbx1/10 acts as a bona fide regulator of cardiopharyngeal multi potency. We performed bulk RNAseq to profile the FACS purified Ciona Robusta Truck Ventral Cells (TVCs) with FGF-MAPK perturbation conditions to address the question- What is the role of FGF signaling pathway during early cardiopharyngeal specification. we performed bulk RNA sequencing of FACS-purified cardiopharyngeal lineage cells isolated from embryos and larvae expressing either a dominant negative form the fibroblast growth factor receptor (dnFGFR), or a constitutively active form of M-Ras (caM-Ras), the sole Ras homolog in Ciona, under the control of TVC-specific enhancers.

Project description:Dynamic gene expression programs determine multipotent cell states and fate choices during development. Multipotent progenitors for cardiomyocytes and branchiomeric head muscles populate the pharyngeal mesoderm of vertebrate embryos, but the mechanisms underlying cardiopharyngeal multipotency and heart vs. head muscle fate choices remain elusive. The tunicate Ciona emerged as a simple chordate model to study cardiopharyngeal development with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. We analyzed the transcriptome of single cardiopharyngeal lineage cells isolated at successive time points encompassing the transitions from multipotent progenitors to distinct first and second heart, and pharyngeal muscle precursors. We reconstructed the three cardiopharyngeal developmental trajectories, and characterized gene expression dynamics and regulatory states underlying each fate choice. Experimental perturbations and bulk transcriptome analyses revealed that ongoing FGF/MAPK signaling maintains cardiopharyngeal multipotency and promotes the pharyngeal muscle fate, whereas signal termination permits the deployment of a full pan-cardiac program and heart fate specification. We identified the Dach1/2 homolog as a novel evolutionarily conserved second-heart-field-specific factor and demonstrate, through lineage tracing and CRISPR/Cas9 perturbations, that it operates downstream of Tbx1/10 to actively suppress the first heart lineage program. This data indicates that the regulatory state of multipotent cardiopharyngeal progenitors determines the first vs. second heart lineage choice, and that Tbx1/10 acts as a bona fide regulator of cardiopharyngeal multi potency. 1823 FACS purified Ciona cardiopharyngeal progenitor cells at successive developmental stages (12, 14, 16, 18, 20 hpfs) have been sequenced in this research, encompassing the developmental spectrum from single multipotent progenitors to diverse fate-restricted progenitor cells. 1796 out of 1823 cells have reads successfully mapped to Ciona genome (i.e only 1796 samples have FPKM data in the *txt processed data files). We adopted multiple quality control criteria to filter out low quality single cell transcriptomes, the contaminating subpopulations and the doublets. Eventually, 848 high-quality cells were retained for further analysis. Based on previously identified cell type specific markers and the well established lineage tree, we identified all five cardiopharyngeal progenitor subtypes (TVC, STVC, ASM, FHP, SHP) and in silico reconstructed three unidirectional trajectories corresponding to the specification of pharyngeal and cardiac fate. Our study enabled us to characterize the global gene expression patterns of heterogeneous cardiopharyngeal progenitors, and interrogate the spatial-temporal dynamics of cardiopharyngeal specification.

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Genome-wide maps of chromatin accessibility governing the transition from founder cells to distinct fate-restricted cardiopharyngeal precursors

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