[2] This makes the DNA in the chromatin more accessible for transcription factors, allowing the genes to be transcribed and expressed in the cell.
More specifically, H3K4me3 is found to positively regulate transcription by bringing histone acetylases and nucleosome remodelling enzymes (NURF).
[4] This is because this histone modification is found more in areas of the DNA that are associated with development and establishing cell identity.
[2] This makes the DNA in the chromatin accessible for transcription factors, allowing the genes to be transcribed and expressed in the cell.
[10][11] Regulation of gene expression through H3K4me3 plays a significant role in stem cell fate determination and early embryo development.
A way of finding indicators of successful pluripotent induction is through comparing the epigenetic pattern to that of embryonic stem cells.
[13] H3K4me3 in embryonic cells is part of a bivalent chromatin system, in which regions of DNA are simultaneously marked with activating and repressing histone methylations.
[2][4] H3K4me3 is present at sites of DNA double-strand breaks where it promotes repair by the non-homologous end joining pathway.
[14] It has been implicated that the binding of H3K4me3 is necessary for the function of genes such as inhibitor of growth protein 1 (ING1), which act as a tumor suppressors and enact DNA repair mechanisms.
[17] The current understanding and interpretation of histones comes from two large scale projects: ENCODE and the Epigenomic roadmap.
This led to chromatin states which define genomic regions by grouping the interactions of different proteins and/or histone modifications together.
This additional level of annotation allows for a deeper understanding of cell specific gene regulation.
ChIP-Seq can be used to identify and quantify various DNA fragments for different histone modifications along a genomic region.