Eukaryote′s gene expression and regulation are the consequence of interactions between cis-acting elements and trans-act-ing factors. It is known that these interaction processes are associated with the dynamics of nucleosome positioning, and the binding of regulatory factors that require naked DNA region, which is an open chromatin site. Thus, the accurate mapping of open chromatin sites can provide an effective solution to identify regulatory elements, and even uncover gene regulatory mechanism. In this paper, we review the definition, main research methods and functional annotation of open chromatin sites, with an aim of providing refer-ences for discovering regulatory elements in genome level, especially in plant.%真核生物转录调控过程是大量的顺式调控元件与反式作用因子相互作用的结果.研究发现,这一调控过程与染色质核小体的动态定位相关,调控因子的结合需要裸露的无核小体的DNA区域,即开放的染色质位点.因此,高效精确地定位基因组上的开放染色质位点为成功地发掘基因组调控元件,乃至揭示基因表达调控机制提供了重要线索和有效手段.本文对开放染色质位点的定义、主要研究方法以及功能注释进行概述,希望对在基因组水平上调控元件的发掘,尤其是在植物中的应用提供借鉴.
展开▼
