Profiling the Epigenetic Landscape of the Spermatogonial Stem Cell-Part 1: Epigenomics Assays.

Abstract

Epigenomics encompasses analyses of a variety of different epigenetic parameters which, collectively, make up the epigenetic programming that dictates cell fate and function. Here, protocols are provided for four different epigenomic methods including whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) to assess DNA methylation patterns, chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) to assess genomic patterns of either specific histone modifications or bound transcription factors, the assay for transposase-accessible chromatin-sequencing (ATAC-seq) to assess genomic patterns of chromatin accessibility, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture-sequencing (Hi-C-seq) to assess three-dimensional interactions among distant genomic regions, plus computational methodology to integrate data from those four methodologies using Chromatin State Discovery and Characterization (ChromHMM) to obtain the most comprehensive overall assessment of epigenetic programming.