Review
ChIP'ing the mammalian genome: technical advances and insights into functional elements
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* Corresponding author: Chia-Lin Wei weicl@gis.a-star.edu.sg
1 Genome Technology and Biology Group, Genome Institute of Singapore, 138672 Singapore
2 Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 117543 Singapore
Genome Medicine 2009, 1:89 doi:10.1186/gm89
Published: 23 September 2009Abstract
Characterization of the functional components in mammalian genomes depends on our ability to completely elucidate the genetic and epigenetic regulatory networks of chromatin states and nuclear architecture. Such endeavors demand the availability of robust and effective approaches to characterizing protein-DNA associations in their native chromatin environments. Consider able progress has been made through the applica tion of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to study chromatin biology in cells. Coupled with genome-wide analyses, ChIP-based assays enable us to take a global, unbiased and comprehensive view of transcriptional control, epigenetic regulation and chromatin structures, with high precision and versatility. The integrated knowledge derived from these studies is used to decipher gene regulatory networks and define genome organization. In this review, we discuss this powerful approach and its current advances. We also explore the possible future developments of ChIP-based approaches to interrogating long-range chromatin interactions and their impact on the mechanisms regulating gene expression.