New Extensive Chip Toolkit Available

Cambridge BioScience now provides a valuable resource for chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) studies, featuring products from a range of suppliers such as Epigentek and Imgenex. Included in this toolkit are: the EpiQuik ChIP Kit, a fast, flexible system for manual or high throughput applications; Methyl and Acetyl Histone ChIP kits for in vivo histone investigations; QuikChIP Kits and Reagents for Chromatin Immunoprecipitation; and a range of antibodies specifically certified for ChIP studies.

ChIP is a powerful technique for studying protein-DNA interactions and can detect the binding of an individual protein to a specific gene sequence in living cells. ChIP assays are used to study histones and non-histone proteins (such as transcription factors) within the cell.

ChIP assays require specific antibodies in order to selectively enrich a chromatin fraction containing a target antigen. The primary antibody must be suitable for immunoprecipitation and the epitope recognised must be available after DNA binding.

Protein-DNA interactions play a crucial role in cellular functions such as signal transduction, transcription, chromosome segregation, DNA replication and recombination, and epigenetic silencing. Identifying the targets of DNA binding proteins and understand the mechanisms of protein-DNA interactions is important for investigating cellular processes.