HERON: A Novel Tool Enables Identification of Long, Weakly Enriched Genomic Domains in ChIP-seq Data.

The explosive development of next-generation sequencing-based technologies has allowed us to take an unprecedented look at many molecular signatures of the non-coding genome. In particular, the ChIP-seq (Chromatin ImmunoPrecipitation followed by sequencing) technique is now very commonly used to assess the proteins associated with different non-coding DNA regions genome-wide. While the analysis of such data related to transcription factor binding is relatively straightforward, many modified histone variants, such as H3K27me3, are very important for the process of gene regulation but are very difficult to interpret.

Mapping chromatin accessibility and active regulatory elements reveals pathological mechanisms in human gliomas.

Chromatin structure and accessibility, and combinatorial binding of transcription factors to regulatory elements in genomic DNA control transcription. Genetic variations in genes encoding histones, epigenetics-related enzymes or modifiers affect chromatin structure/dynamics and result in alterations in gene expression contributing to cancer development or progression. Gliomas are brain tumors frequently associated with epigenetics-related gene deregulation.