Tackling the epigenome in the pluripotent stem cells

作     者：Chia-Lin Wei 

作者机构：Genome Technology and Biology Group Genome Institute of Singapore 138672 Singapore 

出 版 物：《Journal of Genetics and Genomics》 (遗传学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2008年第35卷第7期

页      面：403-412页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 081704[工学-应用化学] 1001[医学-基础医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 07[理学] 08[工学] 0817[工学-化学工程与技术] 09[农学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0836[工学-生物工程] 090102[农学-作物遗传育种] 

主　　题：epigenetics histone modification ChiP-chip ChIP-PET embryonic stem cell 

摘      要：Embryonic stem cells are unique in their abilities of self-renewal and to differentiate into many, if not all, cellular lineages. Transcriptional regulation, epigenetic modifications and chromatin structures are the key modulators in controlling such pluripotency nature of embryonic stem cell genomes, particularly in the developmental decisions and the maintenance of cell fates. Among them, epigenetic regulation of gene expression is mediated partly by covalent modifications of core histone proteins including methylation, phosphorylation and acetylation. Moreover, the chromatins in stem cell genome appear as a highly organized structure containing distinct functional domains. Recent rapid progress of new technologies enables us to take a global, unbiased and comprehensive view of the epigenetic modifications and chromatin structures that contribute to gene expression regulation and cell identity during diverse developmental stages. Here, we summarized the latest advances made by high throughput approaches in profiling epigenetic modifications and chromatin conformations, with an emphasis on genome-wide analysis of histone modifications and their implications in pluripotency nature of embryonic stem cells.