Human organoids – three-dimensional structures of cells that recapitulate important aspects of organ development in vitro – hold tremendous potential for biomedical applications. To help deliver on the promises of combining human organoids with single-cell technology, we have launched an Organoid Cell Atlas pilot project, as a 'Biological Network' within the Human Cell Atlas (HCA), focusing on single-cell profiling of organoids and in vitro cell models (https://www.humancellatlas.org/coordinators/). The Organoid Cell Atlas will foster the production, quality control, dissemination, and utilization of single-cell and spatial genomics data for human organoids, and it will connect such datasets with the comprehensive profiles of primary tissue that are being generated within the HCA. A first step toward establishing the Organoid Cell Atlas has recently been funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 call for "Pilot actions to build the foundations of a human cell atlas" through the "HCA|Organoid" project (http://hca-organoid.eu/). This preprint outlines the rationale for combining human organoids with single-cell technology and the concrete plans for established the Organoid Cell Atlas as a Rosetta Stone for biomedical discovery and regenerative therapy.
To investigate the three-dimensional (3D) genome architecture across normal B cell differentiation and in neoplastic cells from different subtypes of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma patients, here we integrate in situ Hi-C and nine additional omics layers. Beyond conventional active (A) and inactive (B) compartments, we uncover a highly-dynamic intermediate compartment enriched in poised and polycomb-repressed chromatin. During B cell development, 28% of the compartments change, mostly involving a widespread chromatin activation from naive to germinal center B cells and a reversal to the naive state upon further maturation into memory B cells. B cell neoplasms are characterized by both entity and subtype-specific alterations in 3D genome organization, including large chromatin blocks spanning key disease-specific genes. This study indicates that 3D genome interactions are extensively modulated during normal B cell differentiation and that the genome of B cell neoplasias acquires a tumor-specific 3D genome architecture. ; This research was funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme through the Blueprint Consortium (grant agreement 282510), the World Wide Cancer Research Foundation Grant No. 16-1285 (to J.I.M.-S.), the ERC (grant agreement 609989 to M.A.M.-R.), European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 676556 to M.A.M.-R.). We also knowledge the support of Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through SAF2012-31138 and SAF2017-86126-R to J.I.M.-S., SAF2015-64885-R to E.C., BFU2017-85926-P to M.A.M.-R. and PMP15/00007 to E.C. which is part of Plan Nacional de I + D + I and co-financed by the ISCIII-Sub-Directorate General for Evaluation and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER-"Una manera de Hacer Europa") (to E.C.), the International Cancer Genome Consortium (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Genome consortium to E.C.), La Caixa Foundation (CLLEvolution-HE17-00221, to E.C.). Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya Suport Grups de Recerca AGAUR 2017-SGR-736 (to J.I.M.-S.), 2017-SGR-1142 (to E.C.) and 2017-SGR-468 (to E.C.), the Accelerator award CRUK/AIRC/AECC joint funder-partnership, the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya and CIBERONC (CB16/12/00225, CB16/12/00334, and CB16/12/00489). R.V.-B. (BES-2013-064328) and P.S.-V. (BES-2014-070327) were supported by a predoctoral FPI Fellowship from the Spanish Government. CRG acknowledges support from 'Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017', SEV-2012-0208 and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya as well as support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the EMBL partnership, the Generalitat de Catalunya through Departament de Salut and Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement, and the Cofinancing with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation coresponding to the Programa Opertaivo FEDER Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020 and by the Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca, Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement of the Generalitat de Catalunya corresponding to the programa Operatiu FEDER Catalunya 2014-2020
Long-range interactions between regulatory elements and gene promoters play key roles in transcriptional regulation. The vast majority of interactions are uncharted, constituting a major missing link in understanding genome control. Here, we use promoter capture Hi-C to identify interacting regions of 31,253 promoters in 17 human primary hematopoietic cell types. We show that promoter interactions are highly cell type specific and enriched for links between active promoters and epigenetically marked enhancers. Promoter interactomes reflect lineage relationships of the hematopoietic tree, consistent with dynamic remodeling of nuclear architecture during differentiation. Interacting regions are enriched in genetic variants linked with altered expression of genes they contact, highlighting their functional role. We exploit this rich resource to connect non-coding disease variants to putative target promoters, prioritizing thousands of disease-candidate genes and implicating disease pathways. Our results demonstrate the power of primary cell promoter interactomes to reveal insights into genomic regulatory mechanisms underlying common diseases. ; This work was supported by the following grants: UK Medical Research Council (MR/L007150/1, MC_UP_1302/1, MC_UP_1302/3, MC_UP_1302/5), UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J004480/1), ERC (DEVOCHROMO advanced grant), JDRF (9-2011-253, 5-SRA-2015-130), Wellcome Trust (089989, 091157, 095908, 100140, 107212, 107881), European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, grant agreements 241447 [NAIMIT] and 282510 [BLUEPRINT]), NHS Blood and Transplant, NIHR (PG-0310-1002), and BHF (RG/09/12/28096). K.D. is funded by NHS Health Education England. M.F. is supported by the BHF Cambridge Centre of Excellence (RE/13/6/30180). S.P.W., M.K., D.R.Z., and O.S. are funded by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. ; This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier (Cell Press) via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.09.037