Chromatin accessibility dynamics in a model of human forebrain development

Organoids recapitulate brain development Gene expression changes and their control by accessible chromatin in the human brain during development is of great interest but limited accessibility. Trevino et al. avoided this problem by developing three-dimensional organoid models of human forebrain development and examining chromatin accessibility and gene expression at the single-cell level. From this analysis, they matched developmental profiles between the organoid and fetal samples, identified transcription factor binding profiles, and predicted how transcription factors are linked to cortical development. The researchers were able to correlate the expression of neurodevelopmental disease risk loci and genes with specific cell types during development. Science , this issue p. eaay1645