Chromatin landscape at cis-regulatory elements orchestrates cell fate decisions in early embryogenesis

Abstract

Abstract The establishment of germ layers during early development is crucial for body formation. The Drosophila zygote serves as a model for investigating these transitions in relation to the chromatin landscape. However, the cellular heterogeneity of the blastoderm embryo poses a challenge for gaining mechanistic insights. Using 10× Multiome, we simultaneously analyzed the in vivo epigenomic and transcriptomic states of wild-type, E(z)-, and CBP-depleted embryos during zygotic genome activation at single-cell resolution. We found that pre-zygotic H3K27me3 safeguards tissue-specific gene expression by modulating cis-regulatory elements. Furthermore, we demonstrate that CBP is essential for cell fate specification functioning as a transcriptional activator by stabilizing transcriptional factors binding at key developmental genes. Surprisingly, while CBP depletion leads to transcriptional arrest, chromatin accessibility continues to progress independently through the retention of stalled RNA Polymerase II. Our study reveals fundamental principles of chromatin-mediated gene regulation essential for establishing and maintaining cellular identities during early embryogenesis.