Analysis of brain epigenome: A guide to epigenetic methods

Abstract

The brain is the most complex tissue in the body. The development and diversity of different brain regions and cell types, as well as neuronal plasticity is controlled by the epigenetic mechanisms. This chapter describes the key epigenetic events at gene promoters, gene bodies, and 3′-untranslated regions that are critical for control of gene expression especially in the brain. Sections 2–4 of the chapter overview different methods for the analysis of DNA methylation (Sect. 2), histone modifi cations (Sect. 3) and noncoding RNAs (Sect. 4). Each section briefl y introduces the main steps and output, advantages, considerations, and limitations of the methods, as well as some alternative approaches further developed from the original method.