Single-nucleus multiome sequencing identifies candidate regulators of mouse gastric epithelial homeostasis

Gastric epithelial cells maintain homeostasis through dynamic self-renewal mechanisms involving stem and progenitor cells; however, identifying them has been challenging. This study aims to identify stem cells of healthy gastric epithelium and cell type-specific regulators defining gastric epithelial homeostasis via single-nucleus multiome analysis.

Ten unique gastric samples were collected from 8-12 week old wildtype mice. Isolated nuclei were subjected to simultaneous profiling of gene expression and chromatin accessibility. After quality control, 31,598 cells were analyzed with Seurat and Signac using weighted-nearest neighbors analysis for joint RNA and ATAC clustering. Furthermore, SCENIC+, MultiVelo, EpiCHAOS and Cell plasticity score were used to uncover gene regulatory networks, cell state dynamics and lineage trajectories.

Our analyses were validated by the identification of known regulators of stem-cell differentiation into mature cell types. More importantly, it revealed previously uncharacterized regulatory networks comprising novel transcription factor combinations that define cell identities, including Ppara, Pparg, Arid5b and Sox5 as candidate regulators of parietal, foveolar, chief and neck cells, respectively. Further, our data support the identity of isthmus cells as stem-like cells of healthy gastric epithelium, as evidenced by epigenetic plasticity that simultaneously contains open chromatin states of all differentiated cell types in the absence of transcriptional reprogramming.

Consistent with Waddington's epigenetic landscape hypothesis, gastric epithelial homeostasis is controlled by orchestrated epigenetic and transcriptional programs. Contrary to the prevailing hypothesis, stem cells can be defined not by a separate epigenetic state but by epigenetic superposition of differentiated cell states. Future work is needed to define the universality of these results.