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We describe a microfluidic device for the extraction, purification and stretching of human chromosomal DNA from single cells. A two-dimensional array of micropillars in a microfluidic polydimethylsiloxane channel was designed to capture a single human cell. Megabase-long DNA strands released from the cell upon lysis are trapped in the micropillar array and stretched under optimal hydrodynamic flow conditions. Intact chromosomal DNA is entangled in the array, while other cellular components are washed from the channel. To demonstrate the entrapment principle, a single chromosome was hybridized to whole chromosome paints, and imaged by fluorescence microscopy. DNA extracted from a single cell and small cell populations (less than 100) was released from the device by restriction endonuclease digestion under continuous flow and collected for off-chip analysis. Quantification of the extracted material reveals that the microdevice efficiently extracts essentially all chromosomal DNA. The device described represents a novel platform to perform a variety of analyses on chromosomal DNA at the single cell level.

Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA and histone methylation, are responsible for regulatory pathways that affect disease. Current epigenetic analyses use bisulfite conversion to identify DNA methylation and chromatin immunoprecipitation to collect molecules bearing a specific histone modification. In this work, we present a proof-of-principle demonstration for a new method using a nanofluidic device that combines real-time detection and automated sorting of individual molecules based on their epigenetic state. This device evaluates the fluorescence from labeled epigenetic modifications to actuate sorting. This technology has demonstrated up to 98% accuracy in molecule sorting and has achieved postsorting sample recovery on femtogram quantities of genetic material. We have applied it to sort methylated DNA molecules using simultaneous, multicolor fluorescence to identify methyl binding domain protein-1 (MBD1) bound to full-duplex DNA. The functionality enabled by this nanofluidic platform now provides a workflow for color-multiplexed detection, sorting, and recovery of single molecules toward subsequent DNA sequencing.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) allows for the visualizing of individual proteins, DNA molecules, protein-protein complexes, and DNA-protein complexes. On the end of the microscope's cantilever is a nano-scale probe, which traverses image areas ranging from nanometers to micrometers, measuring the elevation of macromolecules resting on the substrate surface at any given point. Electrostatic forces cause proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids to loosely attach to the substrate in random orientations and permit imaging. The generated data resemble a topographical map, where the macromolecules resolve as three-dimensional particles of discrete sizes (Figure 1). Tapping mode AFM involves the repeated oscillation of the cantilever, which permits imaging of relatively soft biomaterials such as DNA and proteins. One of the notable benefits of AFM over other nanoscale microscopy techniques is its relative adaptability to visualize individual proteins and macromolecular complexes in aqueous buffers, including near-physiologic buffered conditions, in real-time, and without staining or coating the sample to be imaged. The method presented here describes the imaging of DNA and an immunoadsorbed transcription factor (i.e. the glucocorticoid receptor, GR) in buffered solution (Figure 2). Immunoadsorbed proteins and protein complexes can be separated from the immunoadsorbing antibody-bead pellet by competition with the antibody epitope and then imaged (Figure 2A). This allows for biochemical manipulation of the biomolecules of interest prior to imaging. Once purified, DNA and proteins can be mixed and the resultant interacting complex can be imaged as well. Binding of DNA to mica requires a divalent cation, such as Ni(2+) or Mg(2+), which can be added to sample buffers yet maintain protein activity. Using a similar approach, AFM has been utilized to visualize individual enzymes, including RNA polymerase and a repair enzyme, bound to individual DNA strands. These experiments provide significant insight into the protein-protein and DNA-protein biophysical interactions taking place at the molecular level. Imaging individual macromolecular particles with AFM can be useful for determining particle homogeneity and for identifying the physical arrangement of constituent components of the imaged particles. While the present method was developed for visualization of GR-chaperone protein complexes) and DNA strands to which the GR can bind, it can be applied broadly to imaging DNA and protein samples from a variety of sources.

Epigenetic states are governed by DNA methylation and a host of modifications to histones bound with DNA. These states are essential for proper developmentally regulated gene expression and are perturbed in many diseases. There is great interest in identifying epigenetic mark placement genome wide and understanding how these marks vary among cell types, with changes in environment or according to health and disease status. Current epigenomic analyses employ bisulfite sequencing and chromatin immunoprecipitation, but query only one type of epigenetic mark at a time, DNA methylation, or histone modifications and often require substantial input material. To overcome these limitations, we established a method using nanofluidics and multicolor fluorescence microscopy to detect DNA and histones in individual chromatin fragments at about 10 Mbp/min. We demonstrated its utility for epigenetic analysis by identifying DNA methylation on individual molecules. This technique will provide the unprecedented opportunity for genome wide, simultaneous analysis of multiple epigenetic states on single molecules.

Epigenetic marks are fundamental to normal development, but little is known about signals that dictate their placement. Insights have been provided by studies of imprinted loci in mammals, where monoallelic expression is epigenetically controlled. Imprinted expression is regulated by DNA methylation programmed during gametogenesis in a sex-specific manner and maintained after fertilization. At Rasgrf1 in mouse, paternal-specific DNA methylation on a differential methylation domain (DMD) requires downstream tandem repeats. The DMD and repeats constitute a binary switch regulating paternal-specific expression. Here, we define sequences sufficient for imprinted methylation using two transgenic mouse lines: One carries the entire Rasgrf1 cluster (RC); the second carries only the DMD and repeats (DR) from Rasgrf1. The RC transgene recapitulated all aspects of imprinting seen at the endogenous locus. DR underwent proper DNA methylation establishment in sperm and erasure in oocytes, indicating the DMD and repeats are sufficient to program imprinted DNA methylation in germlines. Both transgenes produce a DMD-spanning pit-RNA, previously shown to be necessary for imprinted DNA methylation at the endogenous locus. We show that when pit-RNA expression is controlled by the repeats, it regulates DNA methylation in cis only and not in trans. Interestingly, pedigree history dictated whether established DR methylation patterns were maintained after fertilization. When DR was paternally transmitted followed by maternal transmission, the unmethylated state that was properly established in the female germlines could not be maintained. This provides a model for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertebrate embryos achieve developmental competency during zygotic genome activation (ZGA) by establishing chromatin states that silence yet poise developmental genes for subsequent lineage-specific activation. Here, we reveal the order of chromatin states in establishing developmental gene poising in preZGA zebrafish embryos. Poising is established at promoters and enhancers that initially contain open/permissive chromatin with 'Placeholder' nucleosomes (bearing H2A.Z, H3K4me1, and H3K27ac), and DNA hypomethylation. Silencing is initiated by the recruitment of polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1), and H2Aub1 deposition by catalytic Rnf2 during preZGA and ZGA stages. During postZGA, H2Aub1 enables Aebp2-containing PRC2 recruitment and H3K27me3 deposition. Notably, preventing H2Aub1 (via Rnf2 inhibition) eliminates recruitment of Aebp2-PRC2 and H3K27me3, and elicits transcriptional upregulation of certain developmental genes during ZGA. However, upregulation is independent of H3K27me3 - establishing H2Aub1 as the critical silencing modification at ZGA. Taken together, we reveal the logic and mechanism for establishing poised/silent developmental genes in early vertebrate embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]