Navigating the 3D genome at single-cell resolution: techniques, computation, and mechanistic landscapes.

Abstract

The 3D organization of the genome is critical for gene expression regulation, cellular identity, and disease progression. Traditional methods that analyze bulk genomic data often obscure cell-to-cell heterogeneity, limiting the resolution of intrinsic variability within complex biological systems. To overcome this, single-cell 3D genomics has emerged, revealing chromatin architecture at the individual cell level. Advanced experimental approaches enable genome-wide chromatin contact mapping, while computational frameworks reconstruct dynamic chromatin topologies from high-dimensional data. Building on these breakthroughs, recent advances in single-cell 3D genomics have led to transformative progress in epigenetics, linking 3D genome architecture with gene regulation, cellular identity, and disease phenotypes. This review focuses on the breakthroughs in single-cell 3D genomics, demonstrating how integrated experimental, computational, and mechanistic approaches decode chromatin architecture. These insights have deepened the understanding of genome function at the single-cell level and lay the foundation for future advances in precision medicine and topology-guided therapeutic strategies.