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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Formaldehyde-assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements to Measure Chromatin Accessibility in Mammalian Cells
Published on: April 2, 2018
CATaDa reveals global remodelling of chromatin accessibility during stem cell differentiation in vivo
Gabriel N Aughey1, Alicia Estacio Gomez1, Jamie Thomson1
1Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
During development eukaryotic gene expression is coordinated by dynamic changes in chromatin structure. Measurements of accessible chromatin are used extensively to identify genomic regulatory elements. Whilst chromatin landscapes of pluripotent stem cells are well characterised, chromatin accessibility changes in the development of somatic lineages are not well defined. Here we show that cell-specific chromatin accessibility data can be produced via ectopic expression of E. coli Dam methylase in vivo, without the requirement for cell-sorting (CATaDa). We have profiled chromatin accessibility in individual cell-types of Drosophila neural and midgut lineages. Functional cell-type-specific enhancers were identified, as well as novel motifs enriched at different stages of development. Finally, we show global changes in the accessibility of chromatin between stem-cells and their differentiated progeny. Our results demonstrate the dynamic nature of chromatin accessibility in somatic tissues during stem cell differentiation and provide a novel approach to understanding gene regulatory mechanisms underlying development.
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