Chromatin interaction analysis using paired-end tag sequencing.

Chromatin Interaction Analysis using Paired-End Tag sequencing (ChIA-PET) is a technique developed for large-scale, de novo analysis of higher-order chromatin structures. Cells are treated with formaldehyde to cross-link chromatin interactions, DNA segments bound by protein factors are enriched by chromatin immunoprecipitation, and interacting DNA fragments are then captured by proximity ligation. The Paired-End Tag (PET) strategy is applied to the construction of ChIA-PET libraries, which are sequenced by high-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies. Finally, raw PET sequences are subjected to bioinformatics analysis, resulting in a genome-wide map of binding sites and chromatin interactions mediated by the protein factor under study. This unit describes ChIA-PET for genome-wide analysis of chromatin interactions in mammalian cells, with the application of Roche/454 and Illumina sequencing technologies.