Targeted DNase Hi-C.

Abstract

Technology advance during the past decade has greatly expanded our understanding of the higher-order structure of the genome. The various chromosome conformation capture (3C)-based techniques such as Hi-C have provided the most widely used tools for interrogating three-dimensional (3D) genome organization. We recently developed a Hi-C variant, DNase Hi-C, for characterizing 3D genome organization. DNase Hi-C employs DNase I for chromatin fragmentation, aiming to overcome restriction enzyme digestion-related limitations associated with traditional Hi-C methods. By combining DNase Hi-C with DNA capture technology, we further implemented a high-throughput approach, called targeted DNase Hi-C, which enables to map fine-scale chromatin architecture at exceptionally high resolution and thereby is an ideal tool for mapping the physical landscapes of cis-regulatory networks and for characterizing phenotype-associated chromatin 3D signatures. Here, I describe a detailed protocol of targeted DNase Hi-C library preparation, which covers experimental steps starting from cell cross-linking to library amplification.