Epigenetic and Signal Transduction Reagents

Stephen Jones

IMGENEX offers over 90 Chromatin, DNA Methylation & Repair, and DNA Fragmentation-related antibodies, many of which have been cited in numerous peer-reviewed journals. These antibodies have been used to study transcriptional silencing, identify DNA-protein interactions, and characterize the sequence of molecular binding events.

Surging interest in understanding the mechanisms of epigenetics is attracting researchers worldwide from a wide variety of scientific disciplines. Epigenetics is the study of the heritable changes in gene function that occur without changes in DNA sequence. It is becoming increasingly apparent that an epigenetic phenomenon is integral to both normal and aberrant gene regulation.

Histone proteins are thought to be the major carriers of epigenetic information. Histones form the nucleosomal complexes that make up the eukaryotic chromatin, which packages and organizes DNA in the nucleus. The nucleosome, the basic repeating subunit of chromatin, is composed of DNA coiled around an octamer of two molecules, each with four core histone proteins: H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Each core histone is composed of a structured, three-helix domain called the "histone fold" and two unstructured tails.

The N-terminal histone tails extend outward from the DNA to interact with the nuclear environment where they are the targets of multiple, diverse signaling pathways. Signal transduction pathways impinging on the N-terminal histone tails result in a number of post-translational modifications including acetylation, phosphorylation, poly(ADP-ribosylation), ubiquitination and methylation. These modifications play critical roles in regulating chromatin structure and gene expression.

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