Cut&tag: a powerful epigenetic tool for chromatin profiling

Analysis of transcription factors and chromatin modifications at the genome-wide level provides insights into gene regulatory processes, such as transcription, cell differentiation and cellular response. Chromatin immunoprecipitation is the most popular and powerful approach for mapping chromatin, and other enzyme-tethering techniques have recently become available for living cells. Among these, Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation (CUT&Tag) is a relatively novel chromatin profiling method that has rapidly gained popularity in the field of epigenetics since 2019. It has also been widely adapted to map chromatin modifications and TFs in different species, illustrating the association of these chromatin epitopes with various physiological and pathological processes. Scalable single-cell CUT&Tag can be combined with distinct platforms to distinguish cellular identity, epigenetic features and even spatial chromatin profiling. In addition, CUT&Tag has been developed as a strategy for joint profiling of the epigenome, transcriptome or proteome on the same sample. In this review, we will mainly consolidate the applications of CUT&Tag and its derivatives on different platforms, give a detailed explanation of the pros and cons of this technique as well as the potential development trends and applications in the future.

Multi-omics analysis of innate and adaptive responses to BCG vaccination reveals epigenetic cell states that predict trained immunity

Immune responses are tightly regulated yet highly variable between individuals. To investigate human population variation of trained immunity, we immunized healthy individuals with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). This live-attenuated vaccine induces not only an adaptive immune response against tuberculosis but also triggers innate immune activation and memory that are indicative of trained immunity. We established personal immune profiles and chromatin accessibility maps over a 90-day time course of BCG vaccination in 323 individuals. Our analysis uncovered genetic and epigenetic predictors of baseline immunity and immune response. BCG vaccination enhanced the innate immune response specifically in individuals with a dormant immune state at baseline, rather than providing a general boost of innate immunity. This study advances our understanding of BCG's heterologous immune-stimulatory effects and trained immunity in humans. Furthermore, it highlights the value of epigenetic cell states for connecting immune function with genotype and the environment.

Identification of Transcription Factor Binding Sites by Cleavage Under Target and Release Using Nuclease in Zebrafish

Cleavage Under Targets and Release Using Nuclease (CUT&RUN) has emerged as a chromatin profiling strategy that excels traditional methods. Although CUT&RUN has been widely utilized in mammalian cells, its use in the zebrafish is at its early stages. In this study, we have developed a protocol to successfully perform CUT&RUN to map transcription factor (TF) binding sites in embryonic, adult tissues, and FACS-sorted zebrafish cells. We also provide a detailed workflow for the identification of predicted TF binding sites that can be utilized in any animal species. Altogether, our strategy will expand this invaluable tool to the zebrafish community, improving the epigenetic resolution that can be achieved in this model organism.

Rapid and Low-Input Profiling of Histone Marks in Plants Using Nucleus CUT&Tag

Characterizing genome-wide histone posttranscriptional modifications and transcriptional factor occupancy is crucial for deciphering their biological functions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) is a powerful method for genome-wide profiling of histone modifications and transcriptional factor-binding sites. However, the current ChIP-seq experimental procedure in plants requires significant material and several days for completion. CUT&Tag is an alternative method of ChIP-seq for low-sample and single-cell epigenomic profiling using protein A-Tn5 transposase fusion proteins (PAT). In this study, we developed a nucleus CUT&Tag (nCUT&Tag) protocol based on the live-cell CUT&Tag technology. Our results indicate that nCUT&Tag could be used for histone modifications profiling in both monocot rice and dicot rapeseed using crosslinked or fresh tissues. In addition, both active and repressive histone marks such as H3K4me3 and H3K9me2 can be identified using our nCUT&Tag. More importantly, all the steps in nCUT&Tag can be finished in only 1 day, and the assay can be performed with as little as 0.01 g of plant tissue as starting materials. Therefore, our results demonstrate that nCUT&Tag is an efficient alternative strategy for plant epigenomic studies.

Single-Cell Chromatin Analysis of Mammary Gland Development Reveals Cell-State Transcriptional Regulators and Lineage Relationships

Technological improvements enable single-cell epigenetic analyses of organ development. We reasoned that high-resolution single-cell chromatin accessibility mapping would provide needed insight into the epigenetic reprogramming and transcriptional regulators involved in normal mammary gland development. Here, we provide a single-cell resource of chromatin accessibility for murine mammary development from the peak of fetal mammary stem cell (fMaSC) functional activity in late embryogenesis to the differentiation of adult basal and luminal cells. We find that the chromatin landscape within individual cells predicts both gene accessibility and transcription factor activity. The ability of single-cell chromatin profiling to separate E18 fetal mammary cells into clusters exhibiting basal-like and luminal-like chromatin features is noteworthy. Such distinctions were not evident in analyses of droplet-based single-cell transcriptomic data. We present a web application as a scientific resource for facilitating future analyses of the gene regulatory networks involved in mammary development.

A Light-Inducible Strain for Genome-Wide Histone Turnover Profiling in Neurospora crassa

In chromatin, nucleosomes are composed of ∼146 bp of DNA wrapped around a histone octamer, and are highly dynamic structures subject to remodeling and exchange. Histone turnover has previously been implicated in various processes including the regulation of chromatin accessibility, segregation of chromatin domains, and dilution of histone marks. Histones in different chromatin environments may turnover at different rates, possibly with functional consequences. Neurospora crassa sports a chromatin environment that is more similar to that of higher eukaryotes than yeasts, which have been utilized in the past to explore histone exchange. We constructed a simple light-inducible system to profile histone exchange in N. crassa on a 3xFLAG-tagged histone H3 under the control of the rapidly inducible vvd promoter. After induction with blue light, incorporation of tagged H3 into chromatin occurred within 20 min. Previous studies of histone turnover involved considerably longer incubation periods and relied on a potentially disruptive change of medium for induction. We used this reporter to explore replication-independent histone turnover at genes and examine changes in histone turnover at heterochromatin domains in different heterochromatin mutant strains. In euchromatin, H3-3xFLAG patterns were almost indistinguishable from that observed in wild-type in all mutant backgrounds tested, suggesting that loss of heterochromatin machinery has little effect on histone turnover in euchromatin. However, turnover at heterochromatin domains increased with loss of trimethylation of lysine 9 of histone H3 or HP1, but did not depend on DNA methylation. Our reporter strain provides a simple yet powerful tool to assess histone exchange across multiple chromatin contexts.

Hotspots of transcription factor colocalization in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster

Regulation of gene expression is a highly complex process that requires the concerted action of many proteins, including sequence-specific transcription factors, cofactors, and chromatin proteins. In higher eukaryotes, the interplay between these proteins and their interactions with the genome still is poorly understood. We systematically mapped the in vivo binding sites of seven transcription factors with diverse physiological functions, five cofactors, and two heterochromatin proteins at approximately 1-kb resolution in a 2.9 Mb region of the Drosophila melanogaster genome. Surprisingly, all tested transcription factors and cofactors show strongly overlapping localization patterns, and the genome contains many "hotspots" that are targeted by all of these proteins. Several control experiments show that the strong overlap is not an artifact of the techniques used. Colocalization hotspots are 1-5 kb in size, spaced on average by approximately 50 kb, and preferentially located in regions of active transcription. We provide evidence that protein-protein interactions play a role in the hotspot association of some transcription factors. Colocalization hotspots constitute a previously uncharacterized type of feature in the genome of Drosophila, and our results provide insights into the general targeting mechanisms of transcription regulators in a higher eukaryote.