Human, mouse cell lines Epigenomics. Human, mouse cell lines

Cell-to-cell variation is a universal feature of life that impacts a wide range of biological phenomena, from developmental plasticity1,2 to tumor heterogeneity3. While recent advances have improved our ability to document cellular phenotypic variation4-8 the fundamental mechanisms that generate variability from identical DNA sequences remain elusive. Here we reveal the landscape and principles of cellular DNA regulatory variation by developing a robust method for mapping the accessible genome of individual cells via assay of transposase accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq). 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 provides 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 6 cell types. Targeted perturbations of cell cycle or transcription factor signaling evoke stimulus-specific changes in this observed variability. The pattern of accessibility variation in cis across the genome recapitulates chromosome topological domains9 de novo, linking single-cell accessibility variation to three-dimensional genome organization. All together, single-cell analysis of DNA accessibility provides new insight into cellular variation of the “regulome.”