Proteome Characterization of a Chromatin Locus Using the Proteomics of Isolated Chromatin Segments Approach

Abstract

The biological functions of given genomic regions are ruled by the local chromatin composition. The Proteomics of Isolated Chromatin segments approach (PICh) is a powerful and unbiased method to analyze the composition of chosen chromatin segments, provided they are abundant (repeated) or that the organism studied has a small genome. PICh can be used to identify novel and unexpected regulatory factors, or when combined with quantitative mass spectrometric approaches, to characterize the function of a defined factor at the chosen locus, by quantifying composition changes at the locus upon removal/addition of that factor.

Keywords: Chromatin; Heterochromatin; Protein Purification; Proteomics; Repeated Sequences; Telomeres.