Practice question

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation is definitive technique for immunoprecipitating protein-DNA complexes from living cells. Cells are crosslinked with formaldehyde to covalently stabilize transient protein-DNA contacts. Chromatin is sheared by sonication or micrococcal nuclease to fragments of 200-500 base pairs, incubated with antibody specific to transcription factor or histone modification, captured on protein A or G beads. After extensive washing, crosslinks are reversed, proteins digested, DNA purified for PCR or sequencing. This in vivo approach directly identifies genomic loci occupied, unlike in vitro EMSA or Western blot.