Chromatin Biology

Any response a cell makes that involves the nucleus will involve changes in chromatin activity by influencing histone modifications and thus altering the histone code. The histone proteins that organize DNA into chromatin exhibit a variety of post-translational modifications, and it is possible that every biological process has an associated histone modification. The involvement of histone phosphorylation with mitosis, DNA damage and apoptosis strongly supports this idea. In addition, the incorporation of DNA into chromatin compacted within the nucleus causes significant problems for DNA-dependant processes, especially gene transcription. Thus, the control of histone phosphorylation and acetylation, identification and behavior of transcription factors, and mechanisms of transcription and even DNA repair, are major areas of research in nuclear function.

The term Epigenetics refers to stable changes in gene expression that are not due to mutations or DNA base changes. Epigenetic silencing results in the loss of gene expression and function. It is now widely believed that epigenetic silencing (or epi-mutation) is as much a driving force in cancer as genetic mutation. The aberrant epigenetic silencing of an intact tumor suppressor in a cancer cell might very well be therapeutically reactivated, something previously not thought possible with genes harboring crippling genetic mutations. This feature makes the prevalence of epigenetic inactivation of regulatory genes in tumors an attractive target for novel cancer therapies. There are currently three known mechanisms for epigenetic gene silencing: DNA methylation, histone code changes, and RNA interference.

The field of chromatin biology and epigenetics has advanced at an incredible pace and new discoveries continue rapidly. Upstate products have been supporting these endeavors for over 10 years when the first reagents for the study of chromatin biology were released in 1996. Millipore continues to advance chromatin research and drug discovery with a comprehensive selection of antibodies, proteins, and assays for transcription factors, histones, histone modifying enzymes, and chromatin proteins to offer a complete solution for your research. In addition, Millipore’s advances in chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis and transcription factor activity assays allows truly state-of-the-art research into nuclear mechanisms involved in significant metabolic and disease states.

	ICC: Asynchronously growing Hela cells were stained with anti-phospho-Histone H3 (red) and anti-tubulin (green)
	ICc: Indian muntjac cells stained with anti-acetylated Histone H3.
	WB: Staurosporine-treated (lane 1), and untreated (lane 2) Jurkat cell lysates were probled with Anti-phospho-Histone H2A.X (Ser 139), clone JBW301 (0.05 µg/ml).

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