Euchromatin islands in large heterochromatin domains are enriched for CTCF binding and differentially DNA-methylated regions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The organization of higher order chromatin is an emerging epigenetic mechanism for understanding development and disease. We and others have previously observed dynamic changes during differentiation and oncogenesis in large heterochromatin domains such as Large Organized Chromatin K (lysine) modifications (LOCKs), of histone H3 lysine-9 dimethylation (H3K9me2) or other repressive histone posttranslational modifications. The microstructure of these regions has not previously been explored.

Results

We analyzed the genome-wide distribution of H3K9me2 in two human pluripotent stem cell lines and three differentiated cells lines. We identified > 2,500 small regions with very low H3K9me2 signals in the body of LOCKs, which were termed as euchromatin islands (EIs). EIs

SUBMITTER: Wen B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3507770 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature