技術(shù)概述
FAIRE(Formaldehyde Assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements,甲醛輔助分離調(diào)控元件)是近年來才建立的新技術(shù),最初應(yīng)用于酵母細(xì)胞,后被用于多種細(xì)胞,可以和DNase-Seq技術(shù)相結(jié)合,揭示開放型染色質(zhì)的特征,是研究DNA水平調(diào)控的優(yōu)選方法。分子生物學(xué)研究表明,在個體發(fā)育過程中,用來合成RNA的DNA模板會發(fā)生規(guī)律性變化,從而調(diào)控基因表達(dá)和生物體的發(fā)育。
DNA水平的基因表達(dá)調(diào)控最重要的途徑就是通過“開放”型活性染色質(zhì)(activechromation)結(jié)構(gòu)。真核生物的活躍轉(zhuǎn)錄是在常染色質(zhì)上進(jìn)行的。轉(zhuǎn)錄發(fā)生之前,染色質(zhì)常常會在特定區(qū)域被解螺旋,變?yōu)樗沙跔顟B(tài),形成自由DNA。生物體通過核小體結(jié)構(gòu)的解體或改變,DNA本身局部結(jié)構(gòu)的變化,從右旋型變?yōu)樽笮?Z-DNA)等,使得結(jié)構(gòu)基因暴露,促進(jìn)轉(zhuǎn)錄因子與啟動子DNA的結(jié)合,從而誘發(fā)基因轉(zhuǎn)錄。
研究表明,使用DNaseI處理各種組織細(xì)胞的染色質(zhì)時,發(fā)現(xiàn)處于活躍狀態(tài)的基因比非活躍狀態(tài)的DNA更容易被DNaseI所降解。雞成紅細(xì)胞染色質(zhì)中,β-血紅蛋白基因比卵清蛋白基因更容易被DNaseI切割降解。與此相反,雞輸卵管細(xì)胞的染色質(zhì)中被DNaseI優(yōu)先降解的是卵清蛋白基因,而不是β-血紅蛋白基因,研究發(fā)現(xiàn),活躍表達(dá)基因所在染色質(zhì)上一般含有一個或者數(shù)個DNaseI超敏感位點(diǎn),它們大多位于基因5’端啟動子區(qū)域,少數(shù)在其他位置。有人用專一切割單鏈DNA的SI核酸酶處理該基因活躍表達(dá)的染色質(zhì)DNA,證實有DNA被水解,說明該基因活躍表達(dá)時啟動區(qū)部分庁列可能解開成單鏈,從而不能繼續(xù)纏繞在核小體上,使啟動區(qū)DNA裸露于組蛋白表面,形成了對DNaseI的超敏感現(xiàn)象。上述事實充分說明,超敏感位點(diǎn)的存在可能是染色質(zhì)結(jié)構(gòu)規(guī)律性變化的結(jié)果。正是由于這種變化,使DNA容易與RNA聚合酶和其他轉(zhuǎn)錄調(diào)控因子相結(jié)合,從而啟動基因表達(dá),同時也更易于被核酸酶所降解。
技術(shù)詳情
FAIRE的發(fā)現(xiàn)十分偶然,是在用ChIP-chip技術(shù)構(gòu)建酵母Set1甲基化轉(zhuǎn)移酶復(fù)合物的組蛋白甲基化分布圖譜的實驗中發(fā)現(xiàn)的。ChIP實驗中需要對照DNA(INPUT DNA),制備INPUT DNA時,無需對細(xì)胞進(jìn)行甲醛處理和染色質(zhì)的免疫沉淀,只需將細(xì)胞全基因組DNA用酚氯仿抽提制備即可。而在制備INPUT DNA的實驗中,研究人員因誤操作,將制備INPUT DNA的細(xì)胞進(jìn)行了甲醛交聯(lián),但在制備DNA時未進(jìn)行反交聯(lián),而直接用酚氯仿抽提法制備基因組DNA,結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)所制備的基因組DNA中,相對于非編碼區(qū)DNA(non-coding region DNA)而官,編碼區(qū)DNA(coding region DNA)得到明顯富集。這種結(jié)果最初被解釋為該酵母細(xì)胞編碼區(qū)DNA含有大量的甲基化核小體,后來在缺少H3K4甲基化的突變體酵母細(xì)胞系中也觀察到這種現(xiàn)象(42。對這一現(xiàn)象的進(jìn)一步研究,使得Nagy和Lieb在2003年首次報道了該實驗方法,該課題組主要關(guān)注染色質(zhì)組裝,尤其側(cè)重于研究核小體的動態(tài)變化。2007年,他們將這種實驗方法正式命名為FAIRE。
FAIRE實驗過程包括:細(xì)胞或組織培養(yǎng)、甲醛交聯(lián)、細(xì)胞裂解、超聲波打斷染色質(zhì),然后進(jìn)行酚氯仿抽提制備水相DNA、檢測水相DNA。在FAIRE酚氯仿抽提過程中,蛋白未交聯(lián)的DNA溶于水相,而蛋白結(jié)合型DNA留在兩相界面,從而把全基因組DNA分為兩部分(即水相和有機(jī)相DNA)然后對水相DNA進(jìn)行檢測,常用的檢測方法有熒光定量PCR、DNA微陣列芯片、第二代測序技術(shù)等。FAIRE樣品制備及檢測過程如下圖所示:

Fig FAIRE Procedure
(A) The FAIRE procedure described in the text is shown on the left, while preparation of the reference or input sample is shown on the right. The DNA recovered from he aqueous phase of each extraction can then be used to identify sites of open chromatin using qPCR, tiling microarrays, or high-throughput sequencing applications. (B) For qPCR, a series of primers, depicted as convergent arrows, are designed to span a genomic region of interest. Sites of open chromatin are highlighted in blue, with qPCR results depicted above. Amplicons that span or are near the boundaries of open chromatin often result in lower relative enrichment due to shearing of DNA fragments, as shown by asterisks. (C) Microarrays. Typically we use highresolution microarrays that tile either regions of interest or the entire genome of an organism with 50 to 70 bp oligonucleotides. (D) High-throughput sequencing technologies can be used to map the DNA fragments back to the reference genome.【圖片來源:Giresi P G, Lieb J D. Isolation of active regulatory elements from eukaryotic chromatin using FAIRE (Formaldehyde Assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements)[J]. Methods, 2009, 48(3):233-239.】
近年來,F(xiàn)AIRE與高通量技術(shù)結(jié)合產(chǎn)生的FAIRE-Seq技術(shù),得到了廣泛應(yīng)用。將ChIP-Seq,DNase-Seq和FAIRE-Seq三種實驗技術(shù)聯(lián)用,可用于揭示轉(zhuǎn)錄因子結(jié)合位點(diǎn)、核小體分布位置、染色質(zhì)開放區(qū)域,以及三者之間的關(guān)系。三種實驗技術(shù)的原理如下圖所示。

Fig Comparison of experimental protocols.Experiments to detect different aspects of DNA-binding proteins share many of the same steps; simplified schematics of the main steps are shown.
a | Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP–seq) for DNA-binding proteins such as transcription factors. Recent variations on the standard protocol include using endonuclease digestion instead of sonication (ChIP–exo) to increase the resolution of binding-site detection and to eliminate contaminating DNA, and DNA amplification after ChIP for samples with limited cells. b | ChIP–seq for histone modifications uses micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion to fragment DNA and can also now be run on low-quantity samples when combined with the additional post-ChIP amplification. c | DNase–seq relies on digestion by the DNaseI nuclease to identify regions of nucleosome-depleted open chromatin where there are binding sites for all types of factors, but it cannot identify what specific factors are bound. d | Formaldehyde-assisted identification of regulatory elements (FAIRE–seq) similarly identifies nucleosome-depleted regions by extracting fragmented DNA that is not crosslinked to nucleosomes. LinDA, single-tube linear DNA amplification; T7, T7 phage RNA polymerase.【圖片來源:Furey, Terrence S . ChIP–seq and beyond: new and improved methodologies to detect and characterize protein–DNA interactions[J]. Nature Reviews Genetics, 2012, 13(12):840-852.】
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