Project description:The three-dimensional architecture of the genome affects genomic functions. Multiple genome architectures at different length scales, including chromatin loops, domains, compartments, and regions associated with nuclear lamina and nucleoli, have been discovered. However, how these structures are arranged in the same cell and how they are correlated with each other in different cell types in mammalian tissue are largely unknown. Here, we developed Multiplexed Imaging of Nucleome Architectures that measures multiscale chromatin folding, copy numbers of numerous RNA species, and associations of numerous genomic regions with nuclear lamina, nucleoli and surface of chromosomes in the same, single cells. We applied this method in mouse fetal liver, and identified de novo cell-type-specific chromatin architectures associated with gene expression, as well as chromatin organization principles independent of cell type. Polymer simulation showed that both intra-chromosomal self-associating interactions and extra-chromosomal interactions are necessary to establish the observed organization. Our experiments and modeling provide a multiscale and multi-faceted picture of chromatin folding and nucleome architectures in mammalian tissue and illustrate physical principles for maintaining chromatin organization. Here we submit our bulk RNA-sequencing data on E14.5 mouse fetal liver, used in the study to validate image-based RNA profiling results.
Project description:Simultaneous visualization of the relationship between multiple biomolecules and their ligands or small molecules at the nanometer scale in cells will enable greater understanding of how biological processes operate. We present here high-definition multiplex ion beam imaging (HD-MIBI), a secondary ion mass spectrometry approach capable of high-parameter imaging in 3D of targeted biological entities and exogenously added structurally-unmodified small molecules. With this technology, the atomic constituents of the biomolecules themselves can be used in our system as the “tag” and we demonstrate measurements down to ~30 nm lateral resolution. We correlated the subcellular localization of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin simultaneously with five subnuclear structures. Cisplatin was preferentially enriched in nuclear speckles and excluded from closed-chromatin regions, indicative of a role for cisplatin in active regions of chromatin. Unexpectedly, cells surviving multi-drug treatment with cisplatin and the BET inhibitor JQ1 demonstrated near total cisplatin exclusion from the nucleus, suggesting that selective subcellular drug relocalization may modulate resistance to this important chemotherapeutic treatment. Multiplexed high-resolution imaging techniques, such as HD-MIBI, will enable studies of biomolecules and drug distributions in biologically relevant subcellular microenvironments by visualizing the processes themselves in concert, rather than inferring mechanism through surrogate analyses.
Project description:Cell states are regulated by extrinsic signals from various external factors such as intercellular interactions, and intrinsic gene expression. Although comprehensive cell state profiling has been attempted, it remains simultaneous analysis of signal activation has still been challenging. Multiplexed imaging is a technique acquiring multiple protein information at a single cell level as traditional immunofluorescence. However, the method often compromises resolution, hindering the analysis of intracellular localization dynamics and post-translational modifications of proteins. To address these limitations, we developed an erasable fluorescence method using disulfide linkers to label antibodies. We term these antibodies ‘Precise Emission Canceling Antibodies (PECAbs)’. PECAb allows for high-resolution iterative imaging with minimal non-specific binding. Automation enables our system to achieve reproducible quantitative analysis using 206 antibodies. The resulting quantitative data allow reconstruction of the spatiotemporal dynamics of signaling pathways over both long and short timescales. Additionally, combining this approach with sequential RNA-FISH can effectively classify cells and identify their signal activation states in human tissue. Overall, the PECAb system serves as a comprehensive platform for analyzing complex cell processes, from signal transduction to gene expression.
Project description:Cell states are regulated by extrinsic signals from various external factors such as intercellular interactions, and intrinsic gene expression. Although comprehensive cell state profiling has been attempted, it remains simultaneous analysis of signal activation has still been challenging. Multiplexed imaging is a technique acquiring multiple protein information at a single cell level as traditional immunofluorescence. However, the method often compromises resolution, hindering the analysis of intracellular localization dynamics and post-translational modifications of proteins. To address these limitations, we developed an erasable fluorescence method using disulfide linkers to label antibodies. We term these antibodies ‘Precise Emission Canceling Antibodies (PECAbs)’. PECAb allows for high-resolution iterative imaging with minimal non-specific binding. Automation enables our system to achieve reproducible quantitative analysis using 206 antibodies. The resulting quantitative data allow reconstruction of the spatiotemporal dynamics of signaling pathways over both long and short timescales. Additionally, combining this approach with sequential RNA-FISH can effectively classify cells and identify their signal activation states in human tissue. Overall, the PECAb system serves as a comprehensive platform for analyzing complex cell processes, from signal transduction to gene expression.
Project description:Germ cells are unique in engendering totipotency, yet the mechanisms underlying this capacity remain elusive. Here, we perform comprehensive and in-depth nucleome analysis of mouse germ-cell development in vitro, encompassing pluripotent precursors, primordial germ cells (PGCs) before and after epigenetic reprogramming, and spermatogonia/spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Although epigenetic reprogramming, including genome-wide DNA de-methylation, creates broadly open chromatin with abundant enhancer-like signatures, the augmented chromatin insulation safeguards transcriptional fidelity. These insulatory constraints are then erased en masse for spermatogonial development. Notably, despite distinguishing epigenetic programming, including global DNA re-methylation, the PGCs-to-spermatogonia/SSCs development entails further euchromatization. This accompanies substantial erasure of lamina-associated domains, generating spermatogonia/SSCs with a minimal peripheral attachment of chromatin except for pericentromeres—an architecture conserved in primates. Accordingly, faulty nucleome maturation, including persistent insulation and improper euchromatization, leads to impaired spermatogenic potential. Given that PGCs after epigenetic reprogramming serve as oogenic progenitors as well, our findings elucidate a principle for the nucleome programming that creates gametogenic progenitors in both sexes, defining a basis for nuclear totipotency.
Project description:Germ cells are unique in engendering totipotency, yet the mechanisms underlying this capacity remain elusive. Here, we perform comprehensive and in-depth nucleome analysis of mouse germ-cell development in vitro, encompassing pluripotent precursors, primordial germ cells (PGCs) before and after epigenetic reprogramming, and spermatogonia/spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Although epigenetic reprogramming, including genome-wide DNA de-methylation, creates broadly open chromatin with abundant enhancer-like signatures, the augmented chromatin insulation safeguards transcriptional fidelity. These insulatory constraints are then erased en masse for spermatogonial development. Notably, despite distinguishing epigenetic programming, including global DNA re-methylation, the PGCs-to-spermatogonia/SSCs development entails further euchromatization. This accompanies substantial erasure of lamina-associated domains, generating spermatogonia/SSCs with a minimal peripheral attachment of chromatin except for pericentromeres—an architecture conserved in primates. Accordingly, faulty nucleome maturation, including persistent insulation and improper euchromatization, leads to impaired spermatogenic potential. Given that PGCs after epigenetic reprogramming serve as oogenic progenitors as well, our findings elucidate a principle for the nucleome programming that creates gametogenic progenitors in both sexes, defining a basis for nuclear totipotency.
Project description:Germ cells are unique in engendering totipotency, yet the mechanisms underlying this capacity remain elusive. Here, we perform comprehensive and in-depth nucleome analysis of mouse germ-cell development in vitro, encompassing pluripotent precursors, primordial germ cells (PGCs) before and after epigenetic reprogramming, and spermatogonia/spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs). Although epigenetic reprogramming, including genome-wide DNA de-methylation, creates broadly open chromatin with abundant enhancer-like signatures, the augmented chromatin insulation safeguards transcriptional fidelity. These insulatory constraints are then erased en masse for spermatogonial development. Notably, despite distinguishing epigenetic programming, including global DNA re-methylation, the PGCs-to-spermatogonia/SSCs development entails further euchromatization. This accompanies substantial erasure of lamina-associated domains, generating spermatogonia/SSCs with a minimal peripheral attachment of chromatin except for pericentromeres—an architecture conserved in primates. Accordingly, faulty nucleome maturation, including persistent insulation and improper euchromatization, leads to impaired spermatogenic potential. Given that PGCs after epigenetic reprogramming serve as oogenic progenitors as well, our findings elucidate a principle for the nucleome programming that creates gametogenic progenitors in both sexes, defining a basis for nuclear totipotency.