Abstract
Covalent modifications on the nucleosomal histones are essential in
chromatin regulation and gene expression. Patterns of histone modifications
may be somatically maintained and can thereby maintain locus-specific
repression/activity in defined lineages or throughout development.
During recent years, histone acetylation and methylation have emerged
as key players in the repression or activation of genes and chromosomal
domains. Histone methylation and acetylation patterns (and other
histone modifications) can be analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation
(ChIP). This chapter describes how ChIP can be performed on native
chromatin prepared from cells and tissues, in order to analyze histone
methylation and acetylation at specific sites in the genome. We also
present different PCR-based assays that can be applied to analyze
loci of interest in immunoprecipitated chromatin fractions.
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