We thank the rest of the members from the Javierre lab for their feedback on the manuscript. We thank CERCA Program, Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Josep Carreras Foundation for institutional support. This work was financed by FEDER/Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RTI2018-094788-A-I00), the European Hematology Association (4823998), and the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC) LABAE21981JAVI. BMJ is funded by La Caixa Banking Foundation Junior Leader project (LCF/BQ/PI19/11690001), LR is funded by an AGAUR FI fellowship (2019FI-B00017), and LT-D is funded by an FPI Fellowship (PRE2019-088005). We thank the biochemistry and molecular biology PhD program from the Universitat Aut&#242;noma de Barcelona for its support.&#160;None of the funders were involved at any point in the experimental design or manuscript writing.

A Comprehensive Approach to Studying the Promoter Interactome in Scarce Cells

The authors have nothing to disclose.

liCHi-C offers the capability of generating high-resolution promoter interactome libraries using a similar experimental framework from PCHi-C&#39;s but with a vastly reduced cell number. This is greatly achieved by eliminating unnecessary steps, such as phenol purification and biotin removal. In the classical in-nucleus ligation Hi-C protocol57 and its subsequent derivative technique PCHi-C, biotin is removed from non-ligated restriction fragments to avoid pulling down DNA fragments that are after...

Temporal gene expression drives cell differentiation and, ultimately, organism development, and its alteration is closely related to a wide plethora of diseases1,2,3,4,5. Gene transcription is finely regulated by the action of regulatory elements, which can be classified as proximal (i.e., gene promoters) and distal (e.g., enhancers or silencers), the latter of which are frequently located afar from their target genes and physically interact with them through chromatin looping to modulate gene expression6,7,8.
The identification of distal regulatory regions in the genome is a matter which is widely agreed upon, since these regions harbor specific histone modifications9,10,11 and contain specific transcription factor recognition motifs, acting as recruiting platforms for them12,13,14. Besides, in the case of enhancers and super-enhancers15,16, they also have low-nucleosome occupancy17,18 and are transcribed into non-coding eRNAs19,20.
Nonetheless, each distal regulatory element&#39;s target genes are more difficult to predict. More often than not, interactions between distal regulatory elements and their targets are cell-type and stimulus specific21,22, span hundreds of kilobases, bridging over other genes in any direction23,24,25, and can even be located inside intronic regions of their target gene or other non-intervening genes26,27. Furthermore, distal regulatory elements can also control more than one gene at the same time, and vice versa28,29. This positional complexity hinders pinpointing regulatory associations between them, and therefore, most of each regulatory element&#39;s targets in every cell type remain unknown.
During recent years, there has been a significant boom in the development of chromosome conformation capture (3C) techniques for studying chromatin interactions. The most widely used of them, Hi-C, allows to generate a map of all the interactions between every fragment of a cell&#39;s genome30. However, to detect significant interactions at the restriction fragment level, Hi-C relies on ultra-deep sequencing, prohibiting its use to routinely study the regulatory landscape of individual genes. To overcome this economic limitation, several enrichment-based 3C techniques have emerged, such as ChIA-PET31, HiChIP32, and its low-input counterpart HiCuT33. These techniques depend on the use of antibodies to enrich for genome-wide interactions mediated by a specific protein. Nonetheless, the unique feature of these 3C techniques is also the bane of their application; users count on the availability of high-quality antibodies for the protein of interest and cannot compare conditions in which the binding of the protein is dynamic.
Promoter Capture Hi-C (PCHi-C) is another enrichment-based 3C technique that circumvents these limitations34,35. By employing a biotinylated RNA probe enrichment system, PCHi-C is able to generate genome-wide high-resolution libraries of genomic regions interacting with 28,650 human- or 27,595 mouse-annotated gene promoters, also known as the promoter interactome. This approach allows one to detect significant long-range interactions at the restriction fragment level resolution of both active and inactive promoters, and robustly compare promoter interactomes between any condition independently of the dynamics of histone modifications or protein binding. PCHi-C has been widely used over recent years to identify promoter interactome reorganizations during cell differentiation36,37, identify the mechanism of action of transcription factors38,39, and discover new potential genes and pathways deregulated in disease by non-coding variants40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48, alongside new driver non-coding mutations49,50. Besides, by just modifying the capture system, this technique can be customized according to the biological question to interrogate any interactome (e.g., the enhancer interactome51 or the interactome of a collection of non-coding alterations41,52).
However, PCHi-C relies on a minimum of 20 million cells to perform the technique, which prevents the study of scarce cell populations such as the ones often used in developmental biology and clinical applications. For this reason, we have developed low input Capture Hi-C (liCHi-C), a new cost-effective and customizable method based on the experimental framework of PCHi-C to generate high-resolution promoter interactomes with low-cell input. By performing the experiment with minimal tube changes, swapping or eliminating steps from the original PCHi-C protocol, drastically reducing reaction volumes, and modifying reagent concentrations, library complexity is maximized and it is possible to generate high-quality libraries with as little as 50,000 cells53.
Low input Capture Hi-C (liCHi-C) has been benchmarked against PCHi-C and used to elucidate promoter interactome rewiring during human hematopoietic cell differentiation, discover potential new disease-associated genes and pathways deregulated by non-coding alterations, and detect chromosomal abnormalities53. The step-by-step protocol and the different quality controls through the technique are detailed here until the final generation of the libraries and their computational analysis.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>0.4 mM Biotin-14-dATP</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>19524-016</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>0.5 M EDTA pH 8.0</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>AM9260G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>1 M Tris pH 8.0</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>AM9855G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10x NEBuffer 2</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B7002S</td>
			<td>Referenced as restriction buffer 2 in the manuscript</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10x PBS</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>BP3994</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>10x T4 DNA ligase reaction buffer</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B0202S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>16% formaldehyde solution (w/v), methanol-free</td>
			<td>Thermo Scientific</td>
			<td>28908</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>20 mg/mL Bovine Serum Albumin</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B9000S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>5 M NaCl</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>AM9760G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>5PRIME Phase Lock Gel Light tubes</td>
			<td>Qiuantabio</td>
			<td>2302820</td>
			<td>For phenol-chloroform purification in section 4 (DNA purification). Phase Lock Gel tubes are a commercial type of tubes specially designed to maximize DNA recovery after phenol-chloroform purifications while avoiding carryover of contaminants in the organic phase by containing a resin of intermediate density which settles between the organic and aqueous phase and isolates them. PLG tubes should be spun at 12,000 x g for 30 s before use to ensure that the resin is well-placed at the bottom of the tube</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Adapters and PCR primers for library amplification</td>
			<td>Integrated DNA Technologies</td>
			<td>-</td>
			<td>Bought as individual primers with PAGE purification for NGS</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cell scrappers</td>
			<td>Nunc</td>
			<td>179693</td>
			<td>Or any other brand</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Centrifuge (fixed-angle rotor for 1.5 mL tubes)</td>
			<td>Any brand</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CHiCAGO R package</td>
			<td>1.14.0</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CleanNGS beads</td>
			<td>CleanNA</td>
			<td>CNGS-0050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>dATP, dCTP, dGTP, dTTP</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>U120A, U121A, U122A, U123A</td>
			<td>Or any other brand</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNA LoBind tube, 1.5 mL</td>
			<td>Eppendorf</td>
			<td>30108051</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNA LoBind tube, 2 mL</td>
			<td>Eppendorf</td>
			<td>30108078</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNA polymerase I large (Klenow) fragment 5000 units/mL</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0210L</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dynabeads MyOne Streptavidin C1 beads</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>65002</td>
			<td>For biotin pull-down of the pre-captured library in section 8 (biotin pull-down)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dynabeads MyOne Streptavidin T1 beads</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>65602</td>
			<td>For biotin pull-down of the post-captured library in section 11 (biotin pull-down and PCR amplification)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DynaMag-2</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>12321D</td>
			<td>Or any other magnet suitable for 1.5 ml tubeL</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethanol absolute</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>20821.321</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>FBS, qualified</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>10270-106</td>
			<td>Or any other brand</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glycine</td>
			<td>Fisher BioReagents</td>
			<td>BP381-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GlycoBlue Coprecipitant</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>AM9515</td>
			<td>Used for DNA coprecipitation in section 4 (DNA purification)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HiCUP</td>
			<td>0.8.2</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HindIII, 100 U/&#181;L</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>R0104T</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IGEPAL CA-630</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>I8896-50ML</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Klenow EXO- 5000 units/mL</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0212L</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Low-retention filter tips&#160;(10 &#181;L, 20 &#181;L, 200 &#181;L and 1000 &#181;L)</td>
			<td>ZeroTip</td>
			<td>PMT233010, PMT252020, PMT231200, PMT252000</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>M220 Focused-ultrasonicator</td>
			<td>Covaris</td>
			<td>500295</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Micro TUBE AFA Fiber Pre-slit snap cap 6 x 16 mm vials</td>
			<td>Covaris</td>
			<td>520045</td>
			<td>For sonication in section 6 (sonication)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NheI-HF, 100 U/&#181;L</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>R3131M</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nuclease-free molecular biology grade water</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>W4502</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PCR primers for quality controls</td>
			<td>Integrated DNA Technologies</td>
			<td>-</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>PCR strips&#160;and caps</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>410022, 401425</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phenol: Chloroform: Isoamyl Alcohol 25:24:1, Saturated with 10 mM Tris, pH 8.0, 1 mM EDTA</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>P3803</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phusion&#160;High-Fidelity PCR Master Mix with HF Buffer</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0531L</td>
			<td>For amplification of the library in sections 9 (dATP-tailing, adapter ligation and PCR amplification) 
			and 11 (biotin pull-down and PCR amplification)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Protease inhibitor cocktail (EDTA-free)</td>
			<td>Roche</td>
			<td>11873580001</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Proteinase K, recombinant, PCR grade</td>
			<td>Roche</td>
			<td>3115836001</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Qubit 1x dsDNA High Sensitivity kit</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>Q33230</td>
			<td>For DNA quantification after precipitation in section 4 (DNA purification)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Qubit assay tubes</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>Q32856</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>rCutsmart buffer</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B6004S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RPMI Medium 1640 1x + GlutaMAX</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>61870-010</td>
			<td>Or any other brand</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SDS - Solution 10% for molecular biology</td>
			<td>PanReac AppliChem</td>
			<td>A0676</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium acetate pH 5.2</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>S7899-100ML</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SureSelect custom 3-5.9 Mb library</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>5190-4831</td>
			<td>Custom designed mouse or human capture system, used for the capture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SureSelect Target Enrichment Box 1</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>5190-8645</td>
			<td>Used for the capture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SureSelect Target Enrichment Kit ILM PE Full Adapter</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>931107</td>
			<td>Used for the capture</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>T4 DNA ligase 1 U/&#181;L</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>15224025</td>
			<td>For ligation in section 3 (ligation and decrosslink)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>T4 DNA ligase 2000000/mL</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0202T</td>
			<td>For ligation in section 9 (dATP-tailing, adapter ligation and PCR amplification)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>T4 DNA polymerase 3000 units/mL</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0203L</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>T4 PNK 10000 units/mL</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>M0201L</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tapestation 4200 instrument</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>For automated electrophoresis in section 9 (dATP-tailing, adapter ligation, and PCR amplification) and 
			section 11 (Biotin pull-down and PCR amplification). Any other automated electrophoresis system is valid</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tapestation reagents</td>
			<td>Agilent Technologies</td>
			<td>5067-5582, 5067-5583, 5067-5584, 5067-5585,</td>
			<td>For automated electrophoresis in section 9 (dATP-tailing, adapter ligation, and PCR amplification) and 
			section 11 (Biotin pull-down and PCR amplification). Any other automated electrophoresis system is valid</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton X-100 for molecular biology</td>
			<td>PanReac AppliChem</td>
			<td>A4975</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tween 20</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>P9416-50ML</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

an integrated workflow to study the promoter-centric spatio-temporal genome architecture in scarce cell populations

Spatiotemporal gene transcription is tightly regulated by distal regulatory elements, such as enhancers and silencers, which rely on physical proximity with their target gene promoters to control transcription. Although these regulatory elements are easy to identify, their target genes are difficult to predict, since most of them are cell-type specific and may be separated by hundreds of kilobases in the linear genome sequence, skipping over other non-target genes. For several years, Promoter Capture Hi-C (PCHi-C) has been the gold standard for the association of distal regulatory elements to their target genes. However, PCHi-C relies on the availability of millions of cells, prohibiting the study of rare cell populations such as those commonly obtained from primary tissues. To overcome this limitation, low input Capture Hi-C (liCHi-C), a cost-effective and customizable method to identify the repertoire of distal regulatory elements controlling each gene of the genome, has been developed. liCHi-C relies on a similar experimental and computational framework as PCHi-C, but by employing minimal tube changes, modifying&#160;the reagent concentration and volumes, and swapping or eliminating steps, it accounts&#160;for minimal material loss during library construction. Collectively, liCHi-C enables the study of gene regulation and spatiotemporal genome organization in the context of developmental biology and cellular function.

liCHi-C offers the possibility of generating high-quality and resolution genome-wide promoter interactome libraries with as little as 50,000 cells53. This is accomplished by &#8211; besides the drastic reduction of reaction volumes and the use of DNA low-binding plasticware throughout the protocol&#160;&#8211; removing unnecessary steps from the original protocol, in which significant material losses occur. These include the phenol purification after decrosslinking, the biotin removal, and subsequ...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about An Integrated Workflow to Study the Promoter-Centric Spatio-Temporal Genome Architecture in Scarce Cell Populations at JoVE.com

Author Spotlight: An Integrated Workflow to Study the Promoter-Centric Spatio-Temporal Genome Architecture in Scarce Cell Populations  

Gene expression is regulated by interactions of gene promoters with distal regulatory elements. Here, we descirbe how low input Capture Hi-C (liCHi-C) allows the identification of these interactions in rare cell types, which were previously unmeasurable.

An Integrated Workflow to Study the Promoter-Centric Spatio-Temporal Genome Architecture in Scarce Cell Populations

Spatiotemporal gene transcription is tightly regulated by distal regulatory elements, such as enhancers and silencers, which rely on physical proximity ...

an-integrated-workflow-to-study-promoter-centric-spatio-temporal

Research

JoVE Journal

Genetics

1.9K Views.  Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute. Gene expression is regulated by interactions of gene promoters with distal regulatory elements. Here, we descirbe how low input Capture Hi-C (liCHi-C) allows the identification of these interactions in rare cell types, which were previously unmeasurable.

Video: Author Spotlight: An Integrated Workflow to Study the Promoter-Centric Spatio-Temporal Genome Architecture in Scarce Cell Populations  

Genetic Manipulation of the Plant Pathogen Ustilago maydis to Study Fungal Biology and Plant Microbe Interactions

Gene deletion plays an important role in the analysis of gene function. One of the most efficient methods to disrupt genes in a targeted manner is the replacement of the entire gene with a selectable marker via homologous recombination. During homologous recombination, exchange of DNA takes place between sequences with high similarity. Therefore, linear genomic sequences flanking a target gene can be used to specifically direct a selectable marker to the desired integration site. Blunt ends of the deletion construct activate the cell&#39;s DNA repair systems and thereby promote integration of the construct either via homologous recombination or by non-homologous-end-joining. In organisms with efficient homologous recombination, the rate of successful gene deletion can reach more than 50% making this strategy a valuable gene disruption system. The smut fungus Ustilago maydis is a eukaryotic model microorganism showing such efficient homologous recombination. Out of its about 6,900 genes, many have been functionally characterized with the help of deletion mutants, and repeated failure of gene replacement attempts points at essential function of the gene. Subsequent characterization of the gene function by tagging with fluorescent markers or mutations of predicted domains also relies on DNA exchange via homologous recombination. Here, we present the U. maydis strain generation strategy in detail using the simplest example, the gene deletion.

Genetic Manipulation of the Plant Pathogen Ustilago maydis to Study Fungal Biology and Plant Microbe Interactions

We describe a robust gene replacement strategy to genetically manipulate the smut fungus Ustilago maydis. This protocol explains how to generate deletion mutants to investigate infection phenotypes. It can be extended to modify genes in any desired way, e.g., by adding a sequence encoding a fluorescent protein tag.

Gene deletion plays an important role in the analysis of gene function. One of the most efficient methods to disrupt genes in a targeted manner is the ...

Single-cell Gene Expression Using Multiplex RT-qPCR to Characterize Heterogeneity of Rare Lymphoid Populations

Gene expression heterogeneity is an interesting feature to investigate in lymphoid populations. Gene expression in these cells varies during cell activation, stress, or stimulation. Single-cell multiplex gene expression enables the simultaneous assessment of tens of genes1,2,3. At the single-cell level, multiplex gene expression determines population heterogeneity4,5. It allows for the distinction of population heterogeneity by determining both the probable mix of diverse precursor stages among mature cells and also the diversity of cell responses to stimuli.
Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) have been recently described as a population of innate effectors of the immune response6,7. In this protocol, cell heterogeneity of the ILC hepatic compartment is investigated during homeostasis.
Currently, the most widely used technique to assess gene expression is RT-qPCR. This method measures gene expression only one gene at a time. Additionally, this method cannot estimate heterogeneity of gene expression, since multiple cells are needed for one test. This leads to the measurement of the average gene expression of the population. When assessing large numbers of genes, RT-qPCR becomes a time-, reagent-, and sample-consuming method. Hence, the trade-offs limit the number of genes or cell populations that can be evaluated, increasing the risk of missing the global picture.
This manuscript describes how single-cell multiplex RT-qPCR can be used to overcome these limitations. This technique has benefited from recent microfluidics technological advances1,2. Reactions occurring in multiplex RT-qPCR chips do not exceed the nanoliter-level. Hence, single-cell gene expression, as well as simultaneous multiple gene expression, can be performed in a reagent-, sample-, and cost-effective manner. It is possible to test cell gene signature heterogeneity at the clonal level between cell subsets within a population at different developmental stages or under different conditions4,5. Working on rare populations with large numbers of conditions at the single-cell level is no longer a restriction.

This protocol describes how to assess the expression of a large array of genes at the clonal level. Single-cell RT-qPCR produces highly reliable results with a strong sensitivity for hundreds of samples and genes.

Gene expression heterogeneity is an interesting feature to investigate in lymphoid populations. Gene expression in these cells varies during cell ...

Mapping RNA-RNA Interactions Globally Using Biotinylated Psoralen

Knowing how RNAs interact with themselves and with others is key to understanding RNA based gene regulation in the cell. While examples of RNA-RNA interactions such as microRNA-mRNA interactions have been shown to regulate gene expression, the full extent to which RNA interactions occur in the cell is still unknown. Previous methods to study RNA interactions have primarily focused on subsets of RNAs that are interacting with a particular protein or RNA species. Here, we detail a method named Sequencing of Psoralen crosslinked, Ligated, and Selected Hybrids (SPLASH) that allows genome-wide capture of RNA interactions in vivo in an unbiased manner. SPLASH utilizes in vivo crosslinking, proximity ligation, and high throughput sequencing to identify intramolecular and intermolecular RNA base-pairing partners globally. SPLASH can be applied to different organisms including bacteria, yeast and human cells, as well as diverse cellular conditions to facilitate the understanding of the dynamics of RNA organization under diverse cellular contexts. The entire experimental SPLASH protocol takes about 5 days to complete and the computational workflow takes about 7 days to complete.

Here, we detail the method of Sequencing of Psoralen crosslinked, Ligated, and Selected Hybrids (SPLASH), which enables genome-wide mapping of intramolecular and intermolecular RNA-RNA interactions in vivo. SPLASH can be applied to study RNA interactomes of organisms including yeast, bacteria and humans.

Knowing how RNAs interact with themselves and with others is key to understanding RNA based gene regulation in the cell. While examples of RNA-RNA ...

Determining Genome-wide Transcript Decay Rates in Proliferating and Quiescent Human Fibroblasts

Quiescence is a temporary, reversible state in which cells have ceased cell division, but retain the capacity to proliferate. Multiple studies, including ours, have demonstrated that quiescence is associated with widespread changes in gene expression. Some of these changes occur through changes in the level or activity of proliferation-associated transcription factors, such as E2F and MYC. We have demonstrated that mRNA decay can also contribute to changes in gene expression between proliferating and quiescent cells. In this protocol, we describe the procedure for establishing proliferating and quiescent cultures of human dermal foreskin fibroblasts. We then describe the procedures for inhibiting new transcription in proliferating and quiescent cells with Actinomycin D (ActD). ActD treatment represents a straightforward and reproducible approach to dissociating new transcription from transcript decay. A disadvantage of ActD treatment is that the time course must be limited to a short time frame because ActD affects cell viability. Transcript levels are monitored over time to determine transcript decay rates. This procedure allows for the identification of genes and isoforms that exhibit differential decay in proliferating versus quiescent fibroblasts.

We describe a protocol for generating proliferating and quiescent primary human dermal fibroblasts, monitoring transcript decay rates, and identifying differentially decaying genes.

Quiescence is a temporary, reversible state in which cells have ceased cell division, but retain the capacity to proliferate. Multiple studies, including ...

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions

Cells should respond properly to temporally changing environments, which are influenced by various factors from surrounding cells. The Notch signaling pathway is one of such essential molecular machinery for cell-to-cell communications, which plays key roles in normal development of embryos. This pathway involves a cell-to-cell transfer of oscillatory information with ultradian rhythms, but despite the progress in molecular biology techniques, it has been challenging to elucidate the impact of multicellular interactions on oscillatory gene dynamics. Here, we present a protocol that permits optogenetic control and live monitoring of gene expression patterns in a precise temporal manner. This method successfully revealed that intracellular and intercellular periodic inputs of Notch signaling entrain intrinsic oscillations by frequency tuning and phase shifting at the single-cell resolution. This approach is applicable to the analysis of the dynamic features of various signaling pathways, providing a unique platform to test a functional significance of dynamic gene expression programs in multicellular systems.

Here, we present a protocol to analyze cell-to-cell transfer of oscillatory information by optogenetic control and live monitoring of gene expression. This approach provides a unique platform to test a functional significance of dynamic gene expression programs in multicellular systems.

Cells should respond properly to temporally changing environments, which are influenced by various factors from surrounding cells. The Notch signaling ...

A Combinatorial Single-cell Approach to Characterize the Molecular and Immunophenotypic Heterogeneity of Human Stem and Progenitor Populations

Immunophenotypic characterization and molecular analysis have long been used to delineate heterogeneity and define distinct cell populations. FACS is inherently a single-cell assay, however prior to molecular analysis, the target cells are often prospectively isolated in bulk, thereby losing single-cell resolution. Single-cell gene expression analysis provides a means to understand molecular differences between individual cells in heterogeneous cell populations. In bulk cell analysis an overrepresentation of a distinct cell type results in biases and occlusions of signals from rare cells with biological importance. By utilizing FACS index sorting coupled to single-cell gene expression analysis, populations can be investigated without the loss of single-cell resolution while cells with intermediate cell surface marker expression are also captured, enabling evaluation of the relevance of continuous surface marker expression. Here, we describe an approach that combines single-cell reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and FACS index sorting to simultaneously characterize the molecular and immunophenotypic heterogeneity within cell populations.
In contrast to single-cell RNA sequencing methods, the use of qPCR with specific target amplification allows for robust measurements of low-abundance transcripts with fewer dropouts, while it is not confounded by issues related to cell-to-cell variations in read depth. Moreover, by directly index-sorting single-cells into lysis buffer this method, allows for cDNA synthesis and specific target pre-amplification to be performed in one step as well as for correlation of subsequently derived molecular signatures with cell surface marker expression. The described approach has been developed to investigate hematopoietic single-cells, but have also been used successfully on other cell types.
In conclusion, the approach described herein allows for sensitive measurement of mRNA expression for a panel of pre-selected genes with the possibility to develop protocols for subsequent prospective isolation of molecularly distinct subpopulations.

Bulk gene expression measurements cloud individual cell differences in heterogeneous cell populations. Here, we describe a protocol for how single-cell gene expression analysis and index sorting by Florescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) can be combined to delineate heterogeneity and immunophenotypically characterize molecularly distinct cell populations.

Immunophenotypic characterization and molecular analysis have long been used to delineate heterogeneity and define distinct cell populations. FACS is ...

Using In Vitro and In-cell SHAPE to Investigate Small Molecule Induced Pre-mRNA Structural Changes

In the process of drug development of RNA-targeting small molecules, elucidating the structural changes upon their interactions with target RNA sequences is desired. We herein provide a detailed in vitro and in-cell selective 2&#39;-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) protocol to study the RNA structural change in the presence of an experimental drug for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), survival of motor neuron (SMN)-C2, and in exon 7 of the pre-mRNA of the SMN2 gene. In in vitro SHAPE, an RNA sequence of 140 nucleotides containing SMN2 exon 7 is transcribed by T7 RNA polymerase, folded in the presence of SMN-C2, and subsequently modified by a mild 2&#39;-OH acylation reagent, 2-methylnicotinic acid imidazolide (NAI). This 2&#39;-OH-NAI adduct is further probed by a 32P-labeled primer extension and resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). Conversely, 2&#39;-OH acylation in in-cell SHAPE takes place in situ with SMN-C2 bound cellular RNA in living cells. The pre-mRNA sequence of exon 7 in the SMN2 gene, along with SHAPE-induced mutations in the primer extension, was then amplified by PCR and subject to next-generation sequencing. Comparing the two methodologies, in vitro SHAPE is a more cost-effective method and does not require computational power to visualize results. However, the in vitro SHAPE-derived RNA model sometimes deviates from the secondary structure in a cellular context, likely due to the loss of all interactions with RNA-binding proteins. In-cell SHAPE does not need a radioactive material workplace and yields a more accurate RNA secondary structure in the cellular context. Furthermore, in-cell SHAPE is usually applicable for a larger range of RNA sequences (~1,000 nucleotides) by utilizing next-generation sequencing, compared to in vitro SHAPE (~200 nucleotides) that usually relies on PAGE analysis. In case of exon 7 in SMN2 pre-mRNA, the in vitro and in-cell SHAPE derived RNA models are similar to each other.

Detailed protocols for both in vitro and in-cell selective 2&#39;-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension (SHAPE) experiments to determine the secondary structure of pre-mRNA sequences of interest in the presence of an RNA-targeting small molecule are presented in this article.

In the process of drug development of RNA-targeting small molecules, elucidating the structural changes upon their interactions with target RNA sequences ...

Genome Editing in Mammalian Cell Lines using CRISPR-Cas

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system functions naturally in bacterial adaptive immunity, but has been successfully repurposed for genome engineering in many different living organisms. Most commonly, the wildtype CRISPR associated 9 (Cas9) or Cas12a endonuclease is used to cleave specific sites in the genome, after which the DNA double-stranded break is repaired via the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathway or the homology-directed repair (HDR) pathway depending on whether a donor template is absent or present respectively. To date, CRISPR systems from different bacterial species have been shown to be capable of performing genome editing in mammalian cells. However, despite the apparent simplicity of the technology, multiple design parameters need to be considered, which often leave users perplexed about how best to carry out their genome editing experiments. Here, we describe a complete workflow from experimental design to identification of cell clones that carry desired DNA modifications, with the goal of facilitating successful execution of genome editing experiments in mammalian cell lines. We highlight key considerations for users to take note of, including the choice of CRISPR system, the spacer length, and the design of a single-stranded oligodeoxynucleotide (ssODN) donor template. We envision that this workflow will be useful for gene knockout studies, disease modeling efforts, or the generation of reporter cell lines.

CRISPR-Cas is a powerful technology to engineer the complex genomes of plants and animals. Here, we detail a protocol to efficiently edit the human genome using different Cas endonucleases. We highlight important considerations and design parameters to optimize editing efficiency.

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system functions naturally in bacterial adaptive immunity, but has been ...

3D Multicolor DNA FISH Tool to Study Nuclear Architecture in Human Primary Cells

A major question in cell biology is genomic organization within the nuclear space and how chromatin architecture can influence processes such as gene expression, cell identity and differentiation. Many approaches developed to study the 3D architecture of the genome can be divided into two complementary categories: chromosome conformation capture based technologies (C-technologies) and imaging. While the former is based on capturing the chromosome conformation and proximal DNA interactions in a population of fixed cells, the latter, based on DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) on 3D-preserved nuclei, allows contemporary visualization of multiple loci at a single cell level (multicolor), examining their interactions and distribution within the nucleus (3D multicolor DNA FISH). The technique of 3D multicolor DNA FISH has a limitation of visualizing only a few predetermined loci, not permitting a comprehensive analysis of the nuclear architecture. However, given the robustness of its results, 3D multicolor DNA FISH in combination with 3D-microscopy and image reconstruction is a possible method to validate C-technology based results and to unambiguously study the position and organization of specific loci at a single cell level. Here, we propose a step by step method of 3D multicolor DNA FISH suitable for a wide range of human primary cells and discuss all the practical actions, crucial steps, notions of 3D imaging and data analysis needed to obtained a successful and informative 3D multicolor DNA FISH within different biological contexts.

3D multicolor DNA FISH represents a tool to visualize multiple genomic loci within 3D preserved nuclei, unambiguously defining their reciprocal interactions and localization within the nuclear space at a single cell level. Here, a step by step protocol is described for a wide spectrum of human primary cells.

A major question in cell biology is genomic organization within the nuclear space and how chromatin architecture can influence processes such as gene ...

Cell Surface Receptor Identification Using Genome-Scale CRISPR/Cas9 Genetic Screens

Intercellular communication mediated by direct interactions between membrane-embedded cell surface receptors is crucial for the normal development and functioning of multicellular organisms. Detecting these interactions remains technically challenging, however. This manuscript describes a systematic genome-scale CRISPR/Cas9 knockout genetic screening approach that reveals cellular pathways required for specific cell surface recognition events. This assay utilizes recombinant proteins produced in a mammalian protein expression system as avid binding probes to identify interaction partners in a cell-based genetic screen. This method can be used to identify the genes necessary for cell surface interactions detected by recombinant binding probes corresponding to the ectodomains of membrane-embedded receptors. Importantly, given the genome-scale nature of this approach, it also has the advantage of not only identifying the direct receptor but also the cellular components that are required for the presentation of the receptor at the cell surface, thereby providing valuable insights into the biology of the receptor.

This manuscript describes a genome-scale cell-based screening approach to identify extracellular receptor-ligand interactions.

Intercellular communication mediated by direct interactions between membrane-embedded cell surface receptors is crucial for the normal development and ...