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Purification and enrichment of specific chromatin loci

Nature Methods volume 17, pages 380–389 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Understanding how chromatin is regulated is essential to fully grasp genome biology, and establishing the locus-specific protein composition is a major step toward this goal. Here we explain why the isolation and analysis of a specific chromatin segment are technically challenging, independently of the method. We then describe the published strategies and discuss their advantages and limitations. We conclude by discussing why significant technology developments are required to unambiguously describe the composition of small single loci.

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Fig. 1: The potential information gained from locus-specific research depends on the target sample enrichment.
Fig. 2: Signal-to-noise ratio issues.
Fig. 3: Different approaches for locus-specific chromatin characterization.
Fig. 4: Major limitations of the CRISPR-dCas9- and TALE-based targeting systems.

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Acknowledgements

Work in the Déjardin lab is supported by grants from ARC équipe labelisée 2016, from the ERC CoG METACHROM, from INCA, from the Fondation Schlumberger pour l’éducation et la recherche and from Merck (MSD Gnostic). M.G. is supported by the University of Montpellier and by ARC. The Vermeulen lab is part of the Oncode Institute, which is partly funded by the Dutch Cancer Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Human Genetics CNRS–Université de Montpellier UMR 9002, Montpellier, France

    Mathilde Gauchier & Jérôme Déjardin

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science, Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Oncode Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

    Guido van Mierlo & Michiel Vermeulen

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  1. Mathilde Gauchier
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Correspondence to Michiel Vermeulen or Jérôme Déjardin.

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Gauchier, M., van Mierlo, G., Vermeulen, M. et al. Purification and enrichment of specific chromatin loci. Nat Methods 17, 380–389 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-020-0765-4

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