Abstract

Over two metres of DNA is packaged into each nucleus in the human body in a manner that still allows for gene regulation. This remarkable feat is accomplished by the wrapping of DNA around histone proteins in repeating units of nucleosomes to form a structure known as chromatin. This chromatin structure is subject to various modifications that have profound influences on gene expression. Recently developed techniques to study chromatin modifications at a genome-wide scale are now allowing researchers to probe the complex components that make up epigenomes. Here we review genome-wide approaches to studying epigenomic structure and the exciting findings that have been obtained using these technologies.

Author affiliations

1. Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Building 10, Room 7B05, 9,000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
   Email: schonesde@nhlbi.nih.gov
   Email: zhaok@nhlbi.nih.gov

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