Simultaneous quantification of protein-DNA contacts and transcriptomes in single cells

Nat Biotechnol. 2019 Jul;37(7):766-772. doi: 10.1038/s41587-019-0150-y. Epub 2019 Jun 17.

Abstract

Protein-DNA interactions are critical to the regulation of gene expression, but it remains challenging to define how cell-to-cell heterogeneity in protein-DNA binding influences gene expression variability. Here we report a method for the simultaneous quantification of protein-DNA contacts by combining single-cell DNA adenine methyltransferase identification (DamID) with messenger RNA sequencing of the same cell (scDam&T-seq). We apply scDam&T-seq to reveal how genome-lamina contacts or chromatin accessibility correlate with gene expression in individual cells. Furthermore, we provide single-cell genome-wide interaction data on a polycomb-group protein, RING1B, and the associated transcriptome. Our results show that scDam&T-seq is sensitive enough to distinguish mouse embryonic stem cells cultured under different conditions and their different chromatin landscapes. Our method will enable the analysis of protein-mediated mechanisms that regulate cell-type-specific transcriptional programs in heterogeneous tissues.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Protein Binding
  • Single-Cell Analysis / methods*
  • Transcriptome*

Substances

  • DNA-Binding Proteins