Spatial organization, chromatin accessibility and gene-regulatory programs defining mouse sensory neurons
摘要
Heterogeneity among somatosensory neurons is necessary for internal and external sensation. Precise patterns of gene transcription orchestrated through enhancer activation maintain heterogeneity. Thus, high-resolution cell type classification, chromatin accessibility and its relation to enhancer activation can explain the governing principles for sensory neuron heterogeneity. Here, we present an integrated atlas from published high-quality scRNA-seq datasets and resequencing the dorsal root ganglion, including over 44,000 neurons. MERSCOPE spatial transcriptomics confirms cell types in situ, including previously unrecognized neuronal types, and a spatial zonation of both neurons and non-neuronal cells. We present a cell type specific open chromatin atlas revealing enhancer driven regulons and gene-regulatory networks organized into co-regulated gene-programs that together define sensory neuron diversity. Cell type complexity is shown to be generated by layered co-regulated transcriptional modules representing shared functions across different scales of the neuronal type hierarchy with cell type specific contribution as the exception.