What is the methodological principle of ChIA-PET?
Chromatin interaction analysis with paired-end tag sequencing (ChIA-PET) is a new technology to study genome-wide long-range chromatin interactions bound by protein factors. To minimize non-specific noise and reduce complexity, as well as to increase the specificity of the chromatin interaction analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is used against specific protein factors to enrich chromatin fragments of interest before proximity ligation. Combining Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP), proximity ligation and high-throughput sequencing, ChIA-PET provides a global and unbiased interrogation of higher-order chromatin structures associated with specific protein factors. Here, we propose a statistical model taking into account the genomic distance relationship, as well as the general propensity of anchors to be involved in contacts overall.