Chromatin techniques for plant cells

• Published in: The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 776 - 789
• Main Authors: Bowler, C, Benvenuto, G, Laflamme, P, Molino, D, Probst, A.V, Tariq, M, Paszkowski, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.09.2004
• Subjects: Chromatin; Chromatin - metabolism; chromatin immunoprecipitation; DNA Methylation; epigenetics; genetics; histone code; histones; Immunoprecipitation; literature reviews; metabolism; Methods; mononucleosomes; nucleosomes; Plant Cells; plant development; Plants; Plants - genetics; Plants - metabolism
• ISSN: 0960-7412; 1365-313X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313x.2004.02169.x

A large number of recent studies have demonstrated that many important aspects of plant development are regulated by heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes in DNA sequence. Rather, these regulatory mechanisms involve modifications of chromatin structure that affect the accessibility of target genes to regulatory factors that can control their expression. The central component of chromatin is the nucleosome, containing the highly conserved histone proteins that are known to be subject to a wide range of post-translational modifications, which act as recognition codes for the binding of chromatin-associated factors. In addition to these histone modifications, DNA methylation can also have a dramatic influence on gene expression. To accommodate the burgeoning interest of the plant science community in the epigenetic control of plant development, a series of methods used routinely in our laboratories have been compiled that can facilitate the characterization of putative chromatin-binding factors at the biochemical, molecular and cellular levels.