Book: Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression Edited by S.C.R. Elgin and J.L. Workman
I am coming back from a short hiatus with a bang! The topic of today's post is Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression by SCR Elgin and JL Workman. This Frontiers in Molecular Biology volume is an excellent, in-depth introduction to the studies of epigenetic gene regulation and chromatin structure.
The topics of this book include nucleosome remodeling proteins, post-translational modification of histones, heterochromatin formation, and large-scale chromatin structure within the nucleus (among many others!). I will be honest, many of the chapters discussed experimental techniques and genetics that I did not understand. However, I feel that one of the major benefits of reading this book as an undergraduate is exposure to the vocabulary and lines of inquiry that are part of a fundamental understanding of this material. So even though the book was out of my grasp as a student, I found it to be helpful, in a way, to test my ability to follow the science presented here.
The field of epigenetics is currently in a booming period as scientists have come to realize that the regulation of genes in relation to their chemical, physical, and geometric organization within the nucleus is just as important and interesting as understanding what it means for a gene to be deleted from or transformed into a genome. This book was published in 2000 (itself a second edition of a book published a few years before), and I am certain that in the time since then, there have been massive amounts of new information discovered on this topic.
The roles of the SWI/SNF nucleosome remodelers, histone acetyltransferases, histone deacetylases (HDACs), HDAC co-repressors, position effect variegation with respect to heterochromatin, and much more are all covered in great detail. It is also interesting to pay attention to the experimental techniques: micrococcal nuclease digestions and sequencing to determine the location of the nucleosomes in the genome, western blotting with antibodies specific for post-translational modifications, deletion and mutation experiments, etc.
That's all for today!
• Interested in reading the book for yourself? Check it out at:
http://www.amazon.com/Chromatin-Structure-Expression-Frontiers-Molecular/dp/0199638896
or
http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199638901.do