Nanjing Xinfan Bio: What are the new ways to play ChIP?

Biotech reports: When researchers want to understand what proteins are doing, they often take a direct approach—co-immunoprecipitation helps identify protein interactions.

Protein A and Protein B are often found together, and ChIP can determine whether Protein A is bound to nucleic acid sequence B.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a powerful technique that identifies whether a given protein binds to specific DNA sequences. This method has been around for decades and has become a fundamental tool in epigenomics.

With the integration of next-generation sequencing, ChIP has evolved into a key method for mapping genomic regulatory regions and understanding gene regulation at a deeper level.

Michael Snyder from Stanford University School of Medicine emphasizes that while much attention has been focused on coding regions, it's now clear that regulatory regions are equally important. “ChIP is one of the best ways to explore these areas,” he says.

The basic principle of ChIP hasn't changed significantly over the years, but the technology has continuously improved. Researchers today have access to more sensitive and efficient tools than ever before.

Traditional ChIP experiments typically require large numbers of cells—often over a million. However, for researchers working with clinical samples or rare cell types, such as those obtained through FACS sorting or FFPE tissues, this can be challenging.

In response, Active Motif’s ChIP-IT® High Sensitivity Kit offers a solution. It can work with low-cell-number samples, such as as few as 1,000 cells or even 50,000 cells for low-abundance proteins. This makes it ideal for studying rare transcription factors. “It’s one of our most popular products,” says Kyle Hondorp, a product manager at Active Motif.

If you're looking to perform ChIP-seq with minimal input, consider Kapa Biosystems’ KAPA Hyper Prep Kit. This kit allows library preparation from as little as 100 pg of ChIP-derived DNA. Adriana Geldart, a support and application manager at Kapa, explains how it streamlines the process.

Active Motif also recently launched a ChIP-Seq service tailored for low-cell-volume samples. With just 10,000 cells, researchers can outsource the entire process to them.

Another innovation comes from Chromatrap, which has reimagined the traditional ChIP workflow. Instead of using agarose or magnetic beads, their solid-state approach employs a porous filter coated with protein A or G. This reduces the number of liquid-handling steps involved in the process.

“It’s essentially a solid-state ChIP analysis,” says Stephen Knight, CEO of Chromatrap. The method significantly minimizes sample loss during elution and pipetting. “Once loaded, the sample remains in the matrix,” explains Amy Beynon, Product Development Manager. “Elution takes only 30 seconds, compared to five minutes with beads.” This not only saves time but also improves reproducibility and sensitivity.

For more information on the ChIP-IT® High Sensitivity Kit, visit the official website today.

Explore other related products such as ELISA kits, imported reagents, gelatin zymography test kits, and more from Nanjing Xinfan Biotechnology Co., Ltd.