CellTag Indexing: genetic barcode-based sample multiplexing for single-cell genomics
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ABSTRACT: High-throughput single-cell assays increasingly require special consideration in experimental design, sample multiplexing, batch effect removal, and data interpretation. Here, we describe a lentiviral barcode-based multiplexing approach, CellTag Indexing, which uses predefined genetic barcodes that are also heritable, enabling cell populations to be tagged, pooled, and tracked over time in the same experimental replicate. We demonstrate the utility of CellTag Indexing by sequencing transcriptomes using a variety of cell types, including long-term tracking of cell engraftment and differentiation in vivo. Together, this presents CellTag Indexing as a broadly applicable genetic multiplexing tool that is complementary with existing single-cell technologies.
Project description:High-throughput single-cell assays increasingly require special consideration in experimental design, sample multiplexing, batch effect removal, and data interpretation. Here, we describe a lentiviral barcode-based multiplexing approach, CellTag Indexing, which uses predefined genetic barcodes that are heritable, enabling cell populations to be tagged, pooled, and tracked over time in the same experimental replicate. We demonstrate the utility of CellTag Indexing by sequencing transcriptomes using a variety of cell types, including long-term tracking of cell engraftment and differentiation in vivo. Together, this presents CellTag Indexing as a broadly applicable genetic multiplexing tool that is complementary with existing single-cell technologies.
Project description:ChIP-seq experiments are standard experimental procedure for interrogating epigenetic states and protein-DNA interactions. Sequencing experiments are often designed according to the trade-off between the need to obtain maximum sequencing coverage limited funds. Multiplexing samples is a common approach to minimize cost and maximize information yield. We therefore performed an extensive ChiP-seq multiplexing study to gain a better understanding of the effect of multiplexing on the resulting peak detection and genomic annotation and to provide solid guidelines for multiplexing ChIP-seq studies. For a well characterized antibody, our results indicate that multiplexing to ~20M reads (roughly 8 samples per sequencing lane) is sufficient to capture most of the biological signal. Multiplexing samples in sequencing experiments is a common approach to maximize information yield while minimizing cost. In most cases the number of samples that are multiplexed is determined by financial consideration or experimental convenience with limited understanding on the effects on the experimental results. Here we set to examine the impact of multiplexing ChIP-seq experiments on the ability to identify a specific epigenetic modification. We performed an analysis of peak detection to determine the effects of multiplexing. These include false discovery rates, size, position and statistical significance of peak detection and changes in gene annotation. We found that, for histone marker H3K4me3, one can multiplex up to 8 samples (7 IP + 1 input) at ~21 million reads each and still detect over 90% of all peaks found when using a full lane for sample. Furthermore, there are no variations introduced by indexing or lane batch effects and importantly there is no significant reduction in the number of genes with neighboring H3K4me3 peaks. We conclude that, for a well characterized antibody and therefore, model IP condition, multiplexing 8 samples per lane is sufficient to capture most of the biological signal.
Project description:Cell atlas projects and high-throughput perturbation screens require single-cell sequencing at a scale that is challenging with current technology. To enable cost-effective single-cell sequencing for millions of individual cells, we developed “single-cell combinatorial fluidic indexing” (scifi). The scifi-RNA-seq assay combines one-step combinatorial pre-indexing of entire transcriptomes inside permeabilized cells with subsequent single-cell RNA-seq using microfluidics. Pre-indexing allows us to load multiple cells per droplet and bioinformatically demultiplex their individual expression profiles. Thereby, scifi-RNA-seq massively increases the throughput of droplet-based single-cell RNA-seq, and it provides a straightforward way of multiplexing thousands of samples in a single experiment. Compared to multi-round combinatorial indexing, scifi-RNA-seq provides an easier, faster, and more efficient workflow. In contrast to cell hashing methods, which flag and discard droplets containing more than one cell, scifi-RNA-seq resolves and retains individual transcriptomes from overloaded droplets.
Project description:Here, we introduce an in-silico algorithm demuxlet that harnesses naturally occurring genetic variation in a pool of cells from unrelated individuals to discover the sample identity of each cell and identify droplets containing cells from two different individuals (doublets). These two capabilities enable a simple multiplexing design that increases single cell library construction throughput by experimental design where cells from genetically diverse samples are multiplexed and captured at 2-10x over standard workflows. We further demonstrate the utility of sample multiplexing by characterizing the interindividual variability in cell type-specific responses of ~15k PBMCs to interferon-beta, a potent cytokine. Our computational tool enables sample multiplexing of droplet-based single cell RNA-seq for large-scale studies of population variation and could be extended to other single cell datasets that incorporate natural or synthetic DNA barcodes.
Project description:Complex gene regulatory mechanisms underlie differentiation and reprogramming. Contemporary single-cell lineage tracing (scLT) methods use expressed, heritable DNA barcodes to combine cell lineage readout with single-cell transcriptomics enabling high-resolution analysis of cell states while preserving lineage relationships. However, reliance on transcriptional profiling limits their adaptation to an ever-expanding tool kit of multiomic single-cell assays. With CellTag-multi, we present a novel approach for profiling lineage barcodes with single-cell chromatin accessibility without relying on co-assay of transcriptional state, paving the way for truly multiomic lineage tracing. We validate CellTag-multi in mouse hematopoiesis, characterizing transcriptional and epigenomic lineage priming across progenitor cell populations. In direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to endoderm progenitors, we use CellTag-multi to comprehensively link early cell state with reprogramming outcomes, identifying core regulatory programs underlying on-target and off-target reprogramming. Further, we reveal the Transcription Factor (TF) Zfp281 as a novel regulator of reprogramming outcome, biasing cells towards an off-target mesenchymal fate via its regulation of TGF-β signaling. Together, these results establish CellTag-multi as a novel lineage tracing method compatible with multiple single-cell modalities and demonstrate its utility in revealing fate-specifying gene regulatory changes across diverse paradigms of differentiation and reprogramming.
Project description:Complex gene regulatory mechanisms underlie differentiation and reprogramming. Contemporary single-cell lineage tracing (scLT) methods use expressed, heritable DNA barcodes to combine cell lineage readout with single-cell transcriptomics enabling high-resolution analysis of cell states while preserving lineage relationships. However, reliance on transcriptional profiling limits their adaptation to an ever-expanding tool kit of multiomic single-cell assays. With CellTag-multi, we present a novel approach for profiling lineage barcodes with single-cell chromatin accessibility without relying on co-assay of transcriptional state, paving the way for truly multiomic lineage tracing. We validate CellTag-multi in mouse hematopoiesis, characterizing transcriptional and epigenomic lineage priming across progenitor cell populations. In direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to endoderm progenitors, we use CellTag-multi to comprehensively link early cell state with reprogramming outcomes, identifying core regulatory programs underlying on-target and off-target reprogramming. Further, we reveal the Transcription Factor (TF) Zfp281 as a novel regulator of reprogramming outcome, biasing cells towards an off-target mesenchymal fate via its regulation of TGF-β signaling. Together, these results establish CellTag-multi as a novel lineage tracing method compatible with multiple single-cell modalities and demonstrate its utility in revealing fate-specifying gene regulatory changes across diverse paradigms of differentiation and reprogramming.
Project description:Complex gene regulatory mechanisms underlie differentiation and reprogramming. Contemporary single-cell lineage tracing (scLT) methods use expressed, heritable DNA barcodes to combine cell lineage readout with single-cell transcriptomics enabling high-resolution analysis of cell states while preserving lineage relationships. However, reliance on transcriptional profiling limits their adaptation to an ever-expanding tool kit of multiomic single-cell assays. With CellTag-multi, we present a novel approach for profiling lineage barcodes with single-cell chromatin accessibility without relying on co-assay of transcriptional state, paving the way for truly multiomic lineage tracing. We validate CellTag-multi in mouse hematopoiesis, characterizing transcriptional and epigenomic lineage priming across progenitor cell populations. In direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to endoderm progenitors, we use CellTag-multi to comprehensively link early cell state with reprogramming outcomes, identifying core regulatory programs underlying on-target and off-target reprogramming. Further, we reveal the Transcription Factor (TF) Zfp281 as a novel regulator of reprogramming outcome, biasing cells towards an off-target mesenchymal fate via its regulation of TGF-β signaling. Together, these results establish CellTag-multi as a novel lineage tracing method compatible with multiple single-cell modalities and demonstrate its utility in revealing fate-specifying gene regulatory changes across diverse paradigms of differentiation and reprogramming.
Project description:Complex gene regulatory mechanisms underlie differentiation and reprogramming. Contemporary single-cell lineage tracing (scLT) methods use expressed, heritable DNA barcodes to combine cell lineage readout with single-cell transcriptomics enabling high-resolution analysis of cell states while preserving lineage relationships. However, reliance on transcriptional profiling limits their adaptation to an ever-expanding tool kit of multiomic single-cell assays. With CellTag-multi, we present a novel approach for profiling lineage barcodes with single-cell chromatin accessibility without relying on co-assay of transcriptional state, paving the way for truly multiomic lineage tracing. We validate CellTag-multi in mouse hematopoiesis, characterizing transcriptional and epigenomic lineage priming across progenitor cell populations. In direct reprogramming of fibroblasts to endoderm progenitors, we use CellTag-multi to comprehensively link early cell state with reprogramming outcomes, identifying core regulatory programs underlying on-target and off-target reprogramming. Further, we reveal the Transcription Factor (TF) Zfp281 as a novel regulator of reprogramming outcome, biasing cells towards an off-target mesenchymal fate via its regulation of TGF-β signaling. Together, these results establish CellTag-multi as a novel lineage tracing method compatible with multiple single-cell modalities and demonstrate its utility in revealing fate-specifying gene regulatory changes across diverse paradigms of differentiation and reprogramming.