Editor's Summary
2 August 2007
Chromatin profiling
Although they contain the same set of genes, different cell types in a multicellular organism maintain very different behaviours. These cell states are thought to be related to chromatin state — that is, modifications to histones and other proteins that package the genome. Single-molecule sequencing technology has now been used to construct chromatin-state maps for mouse embryonic stem cells and two other more developmentally advanced cell types, revealing the genome-wide distribution of important chromatin modifications. The study provides pointers for the use of chromatin profiling on mammalian cell populations, including those of abnormal cells, such as cancer.
News and Views: Genomic biology: The epigenomic era opens
Readout of information from the genome depends on intricate regulation of how DNA is packaged by proteins. The great endeavour to reveal how this packaging operates pan-genomically is now under way.
Stephen B. Baylin & Kornel E. Schuebel
doi:10.1038/448548a
Article: Genome-wide maps of chromatin state in pluripotent and lineage-committed cells
Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, Manching Ku, David B. Jaffe, Biju Issac, Erez Lieberman, Georgia Giannoukos, Pablo Alvarez, William Brockman, Tae-Kyung Kim, Richard P. Koche, William Lee, Eric Mendenhall, Aisling O'Donovan, Aviva Presser, Carsten Russ, Xiaohui Xie, Alexander Meissner, Marius Wernig, Rudolf Jaenisch, Chad Nusbaum, Eric S. Lander & Bradley E. Bernstein
doi:10.1038/nature06008
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (577K) | Supplementary information
