Chromatin accessibility and the regulatory epigenome

Abstract

Physical access to DNA is a highly dynamic property of chromatin that plays an essential role in establishing and maintaining cellular identity. The organization of accessible chromatin across the genome reflects a network of permissible physical interactions through which enhancers, promoters, insulators and chromatin-binding factors cooperatively regulate gene expression. This landscape of accessibility changes dynamically in response to both external stimuli and developmental cues, and emerging evidence suggests that homeostatic maintenance of accessibility is itself dynamically regulated through a competitive interplay between chromatin-binding factors and nucleosomes. In this Review, we examine how the accessible genome is measured and explore the role of transcription factors in initiating accessibility remodelling; our goal is to illustrate how chromatin accessibility defines regulatory elements within the genome and how these epigenetic features are dynamically established to control gene expression.

Keywords

ChromatinChIA-PETBiologyEpigenomeScaffold/matrix attachment regionBivalent chromatinEnhancerNucleosomeEpigeneticsEpigenomicsHistone-modifying enzymesChromatin remodelingTranscription factorRegulation of gene expressionGeneticsComputational biologyHistoneCell biologyGeneGene expressionDNA methylation

MeSH Terms

AnimalsChromatin Assembly and DisassemblyEnhancer ElementsGeneticEpigenomicsGenomeHumanHumansNucleosomesPromoter RegionsGenetic

Affiliated Institutions

Stanford University US

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Publication Info

Year: 2019
Type: review
Volume: 20
Issue: 4
Pages: 207-220
Citations: 1797
Access: Closed

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APA Style

                            
                                    Sandy Klemm, 
                                
                                    Zohar Shipony, 
                                
                                    William J. Greenleaf
                                
                            (2019). 
                            Chromatin accessibility and the regulatory epigenome. 
                            Nature Reviews Genetics
                            , 20
                            (4)
                            , 207-220.
                            https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-018-0089-8

Identifiers

DOI: 10.1038/s41576-018-0089-8
PMID: 30675018

Data Quality

Data completeness: 81%