Cited by 2,308Genomics and Chromatin DynamicsSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomicsChromatin Remodeling and Cancer

Single-cell chromatin accessibility reveals principles of regulatory variation

Open access
Buenrostro, Jason D., Wu, Beijing, Litzenburger, Ulrike M., Ruff, Dave, Gonzales, Michael L., Snyder, Michael P., Chang, Howard Y., Greenleaf, William J.·2015·Nature

Abstract

Cell-to-cell variation is a universal feature of life that affects a wide range of biological phenomena, from developmental plasticity to tumour heterogeneity. Although recent advances have improved our ability to document cellular phenotypic variation, the fundamental mechanisms that generate variability from identical DNA sequences remain elusive. Here we reveal the landscape and principles of mammalian DNA regulatory variation by developing a robust method for mapping the accessible genome of individual cells by assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) integrated into a programmable microfluidics platform. Single-cell ATAC-seq (scATAC-seq) maps from hundreds of single cells in aggregate closely resemble accessibility profiles from tens of millions of cells and provide insights into cell-to-cell variation. Accessibility variance is systematically associated with specific trans-factors and cis-elements, and we discover combinations of trans-factors associated with either induction or suppression of cell-to-cell variability. We further identify sets of trans-factors associated with cell-type-specific accessibility variance across eight cell types. Targeted perturbations of cell cycle or transcription factor signalling evoke stimulus-specific changes in this observed variability. The pattern of accessibility variation in cis across the genome recapitulates chromosome compartments de novo, linking single-cell accessibility variation to three-dimensional genome organization. Single-cell analysis of DNA accessibility provides new insight into cellular variation of the 'regulome'.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature14590

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Such DNA variation data can be combined with chromatin accessibility and thus form a three-dimensional informative 'regulome' in the genome.

    “Such DNA variation data can be combined with chromatin accessibility and thus form a three-dimensional informative “regulome” in the genome (312).”

    From Epigenetic Modifications in Stress Response Genes Associated With Childhood Trauma (2019) · cites this paper as [312]

    The Abstract links single-cell chromatin-accessibility variation to three-dimensional genome organization and calls this analysis informative about the “regulome.” The Main section describes correlations in accessibility across genomic regions. Neither passage describes combining DNA sequence-variation data with accessibility data, so that part of the claim is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Two methods of scATAC-seq developed in 2015 enabled exploration of chromatin accessibility at the single-cell level.

    “Two methods of scATAC-seq were developed in 2015, which enabled the exploration of chromatin accessibility at the single-cell level.”

    From Single-cell sequencing to multi-omics: technologies and applications (2024) · cites this paper as [111]

    The Main section says the authors developed scATAC-seq and used it to map DNA accessibility in individual cells. Extended Data Figure 1 describes development of that method, but the passages do not establish that this paper developed two scATAC-seq methods. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • New methods have recently emerged that overcome many key limitations of earlier technologies, including single-cell methods, higher-resolution 3C, MPRAs, and high-throughput CRISPR screens.

    “To this point, new methods have recently emerged that overcome many of the key limitations of earlier technologies. These include single-cell (‘sc’) methods to identify cell-type-specific open chromatin in complex tissues82,83; higher resolution chromosome conformation capture [G] methods to more finely map enhancer–promoter contacts84; MPRAs to dissect or trap enhancer activity on a reporter”

    From Towards a comprehensive catalogue of validated and target-linked human enhancers (2020) · cites this paper as [83]

    The Main section describes scATAC-seq as a method for mapping open chromatin in individual cells and reports its use across several cell types. It presents partitioning cells by state and studying small or rare samples as future possibilities, rather than demonstrating identification of cell-type-specific open chromatin in complex tissues. The separately cited 3C, MPRA, and CRISPR methods are not attributed to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Single-cell ATAC-seq has enabled in vivo profiling of accessible chromatin at the scale of a whole organism.

    “For example, single-cell ATAC-seq has enabled the in vivo profiling of accessible chromatin at the scale of a whole organism82,83.160,161.”

    From Towards a comprehensive catalogue of validated and target-linked human enhancers (2020) · cites this paper as [83]

    The Main section (page unavailable) reports that scATAC-seq maps accessible chromatin in individual cells. Its experiments used captured cells from cell lines; the paper does not report in vivo profiling at the scale of a whole organism. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Other single-cell methods have been developed to measure single-cell DNA methylation and single-cell open chromatin using ATAC-seq.

    “Other single-cell methods have been developed to measure single-cell DNA methylation [182] and single-cell open chromatin using ATAC-seq [183, 184].”

    From A survey of best practices for RNA-seq data analysis (2016) · cites this paper as [183]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Buenrostro, J. D., Wu, B., Litzenburger, U. M., Ruff, D., Gonzales, M. L., Snyder, M. P., Chang, H. Y., & Greenleaf, W. J.
Affiliations
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • Standard BioTools (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
  • Chang, Howard Y.
  • Greenleaf, William J.
Venue
Nature
Published
2015-06-17
Volume
523
Issue
7561
Pages
486-490
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W1602702667
Cited by
2,308
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 206 · 2025: 258 · 2024: 240 · 2023: 262 · 2022: 251 · 2021: 298 · 2020: 223 · 2019: 186 · 2018: 157 · 2017: 124 · 2016: 75 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 2
FWCI
54.59
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (P50HG007735, U54HG004558, 5U54HG00455805, T32HG000044)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U19AI057266)
  • National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (UH2AR067676)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
Keywords
single-cell chromatin accessibility, single-cell ATAC-seq, cell-to-cell variability, transcription factors, cis-regulatory elements, 3D genome organization, regulome, microfluidics, cell cycle
MeSH terms
Animals, Cell Compartmentation, Cell Cycle, Cell Line, Cells, Chromatin, DNA, Humans, Transcription Factors, Signal Transduction, Genome, Human, Transposases, Microfluidics, Epigenesis, Genetic, Epigenomics, Single-Cell Analysis

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review