An ambitious EC-funded research initiative on epigenetics advancing towards systems biology

We use the Xenopus oocyte as a live test tube for the analysis of protein-DNA interactions, chromatin structure and other aspects of genome biology. This offers the unique advantage to analyze local chromatin structure and protein-DNA interactions at higher resolution than in any other cells. It also offers the possibility to estimate the relative affinity of protein-DNA interactions in vivo in a chromatin context. Our work has established this system as an experimental tool for quantitative studies of chromatin biology.
Some questions we are addressing:

• How different transcription factors (TFs) contribute in formation of an active enhancer complex.
• The intranuclear TF concentration required for specific DNA binding.
• The TF-mediated recruitment of various chromatin remodeling complexes and how this affects surrounding chromatin structure and the binding of other TFs.

Group members:
Prof. Örjan Wrange (PI)
Assoc. Prof. (Docent) Sergey Belikov
PhD student Christine Öberg