Analysis of a cell's replication timing (RT) provides insight into how genes replicate, early or late, during the S-phase of the cell cycle. RT is cell-type specific, inheritable, and has been correlated to gene expression in normal and diseased states. However, most studies have been limited to somatic cells. Very little is known about RT control in early mouse embryos, and how it correlates with the start of transcription during zygote gene activation (ZGA), at the 2-cell stage. In this study, we develop an in-house single-cell multiomics approach to simultaneously analyze RT and gene expression in individual cells of the mouse 1-cell, 2-cell, and 4-cell embryos. We detect that RT is established at the 1-cell stage prior to ZGA. Surprisingly, we observe that the coordinated RT and gene expression control is different in early totipotent embryos, compared to previously published studies in somatic cells. Late replicating regions correlate with higher gene expression and open chromatin in the early developing embryos. Lastly, we perform an integrated pseudo time trajectory analysis combining RT and gene expression information per cell. Single-cell multiomics for analysis of replication timing (RT) and gene expression in early mouse embryos revealed RT establishment at the 1-cell stage, and a link between late-replicating regions and higher gene expression during early development.
Shetty et al. (Tue,) studied this question.