Genome regulation across developmental trajectories

During animal development, the single celled embryo has the remarkable ability to give rise to all of the different cells and tissues of the organism, directed by instructions in the genome sequence. As new cells are produced, their identities are progressively defined by patterns of activation and repression of the genome, which generates correct gene expression programmes. We do not yet know this progressive series of events in any animal. Recent technical advances have made it possible to map which regions of the genome are active in individual cells (single-cell profiling). We will use this technology to study development in the nematode C. elegans, which has just 959 body cells. We will study the precise cell-to-cell changes in genome activity along development, revealing how specific information in the genome sequence is progressively read to produce correct cell types. Our findings will illuminate core principles of development relevant across animals.