IT-scC&T-seq streamlines scalable, parallel profiling of protein-DNA interactions in single cells

  • Genome Biol. 2025 Jul 7;26(1):196. doi: 10.1186/s13059-025-03661-z.
Jingchun Ma  #  1 Wei Jin  #  2  3 Li Rong  #  1 Zhanyu Gao  1 Zaman Hazrat  1 Hosen Md Shakhawat  1 Fei Long  1 Zixuan Zhang  1 Jiandong Huang  1 Xiaomei Lu  4 Guoxiang Jin  5 Zhongjun Zhou  6  7  8  9
Affiliations
  • 1. School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
  • 2. School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].
  • 3. Dongguan Institute of Pediatrics, Dongguan Children's Hospital, Dongguan, China. [email protected].
  • 4. Dongguan Institute of Pediatrics, Dongguan Children's Hospital, Dongguan, China.
  • 5. Medical Research Centre, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Immune and Genetic Research of Chronic Nephropathy, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
  • 6. School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].
  • 7. Dongguan Institute of Pediatrics, Dongguan Children's Hospital, Dongguan, China. [email protected].
  • 8. Medical Research Centre, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Immune and Genetic Research of Chronic Nephropathy, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, China. [email protected].
  • 9. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
Abstract

Single-cell profiling protein-chromatin interactions is often constrained by complex workflows, high cost, or dependence on specialized equipment. We present indexed tagmentation-based single-cell CUT&Tag-sequencing (IT-scC&T-seq), a modular, plate-based strategy using three-round combinatorial barcoding. IT-scC&T-seq robustly profiles histone modifications and transcription factors with high specificity and throughput, supporting simultaneous analysis of multiple samples and epitopes. Notably, it enables sensitive single-cell mapping of lamina-associated domains, low-abundance chromatin features previously difficult to resolve. Applied to adult mouse mammary gland, the method reveals cell-type-specific chromatin landscapes and lineage-regulatory dynamics. Together, IT-scC&T-seq provides a scalable, cost-effective, and broadly accessible approach for high-resolution chromatin profiling.

Keywords
CUT&Tag; Epigenetics; Histone modification; Indexed tagmentation; Lamina-associated domains (LADs); Mammary gland development; Single-cell omics.
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