Functional genomic screening libraries that represent the most current findings within the field
As the knowledge base of genomic information continues to grow, we believe it is important to reflect this evolution by offering functional genomic screening libraries that represent the most current findings within the field. Therefore, our epigenetic libraries include nearly twice as many genes as earlier versions.
Epigenetics
Over the last decade, a major focus of biomedical research has been to better understand epigenetics, which enables a cell to set and transfer its state to its progeny without changes to the DNA sequence1,2. Research has shown that epigenetics plays an important role during cellular differentiation and response to environmental changes, and it has been implicated in human diseases (such as cancer, neuropsychiatric disorders, and diabetes)2,3. The epigenetic state of a cell is determined by the collection of covalent modifications that have been made to its DNA and the histones that package the DNA. These modifications change the probability that a given gene will be transcribed, which explains how cells with identical DNA sequences can take on diverse roles3. By silencing or expressing epigenetic genes, a researcher can probe the complex epigenetic regulatory networks fundamental to cell function and identity.
Library composition
Dharmacon Epigenetics screening libraries of arrayed siRNA, sgRNA, pooled lentiviral or arrayed shRNA, and ORFs now include approximately 830 genes for Human and 729 for Mouse. The gene lists were developed using data from recent publications, including two with manually curated gene lists2,3. Where possible, we have added homologs of known epigenetic genes from Homo sapiens and Mus musculus. These Epigenetics libraries reflect advances in a rapidly progressing field and provide researchers with an invaluable resource for screening.
|
Function |
Count |
|
DNA Modification |
26 |
|
RNA Modification |
30 |
|
Chromatic Remodeling |
139 |
|
Histone Chaperones |
26 |
|
Histone Modification |
485 |
|
Polycomb Group (PcG) Proteins |
29 |
|
Scaffold Proteins |
12 |
|
Transcription Factors |
52 |
|
Other |
153 |
Table 1: Epigenetic human gene family categories and gene count represented in Dharmacon functional screening libraries. There is some overlap between categories, exact counts will differ between product formats and target species.
References
- Helin, K., & Dhanak, D. (2013). Chromatin proteins and modifications as drug targets. Nature, 502(7472), 480–8.
- Medvedeva, Y. a., Lennartsson, A., Ehsani, R., Kulakovskiy, I. V., Vorontsov, I. E., Panahandeh, P., … Drabløs, F. (2015). EpiFactors: a comprehensive database of human epigenetic factors and complexes. Database, 2015, bav067.
- Arrowsmith, C. H., Bountra, C., Fish, P. V, Lee, K., & Schapira, M. (2012). Epigenetic protein families: a new frontier for drug discovery. Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery, 11(5), 384–400.