A chromatin integration labelling method enables epigenomic profiling with lower input

Epigenomic profiling made easier

31 July 2019

A new way to probe interactions between proteins and DNA requires far less cellular material than existing techniques.

Termed chromatin integration labelling, or ChIL, the method could allow scientists to study epigenetic patterns in rare cell types, a technological advance that may lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in precision medicine.

To develop ChIL, researchers from Waseda University and elsewhere in Japan replaced two steps normally involved in sample preparation with one that involves less material loss.

The team used ChIL followed by DNA sequencing to map the genomic distribution of different kinds of protein tags in batches of just 100–1,000 cells. (Standard techniques typically require at least 10,000 cells.) The method also detected genomic regions associated with DNA-packing proteins at the single-cell level.

ChIL could “reveal previously inaccessible epigenomic information,” the researchers report in Nature Cell Biology.

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References

1. Nature Cell Biology 21, 287–296 (2019). doi: 10.1038/s41556-018-0248-3