Plasmodium falciparum epigenome: A distinct dynamic epigenetic regulation of gene expression

Histone modification profiles are predictive of gene expression and most of the knowledge gained is acquired through studies done in higher eukaryotes. However, genome-wide studies involving Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of malaria, have been rather few, at lower resolution (mostly using ChIP-on-chip), and covering limited number of histone modifications. In our recent study [1], we have performed extensive genome-wide analyses of multiple histone modifications including the active (H3K4me2, H3K4me3, H3K9ac, H3K14ac, H3K27ac and H4ac), inactive (H3K9me3 and H3K27me3), elongation (H3K79me3) and regulatory element (H3K4me1) in a stage-specific manner. Furthermore, we used a ligation-based method suitable for sequencing homopolymeric stretches as seen in P. falciparum for next-generation sequencing library amplification [2], enabling highly quantitative analysis of the extremely AT-rich P. falciparum genome. Our recently published study suggests that transcription regulation by virtue of poised chromatin and differential histone modifications is unique to P. falciparum [1]. Here we describe the experiments, quality controls and chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing data analysis of our associated study published in Epigenetics and Chromatin [1]. Stage-specific ChIP-sequencing data for histone modifications is submitted to Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database under the accession number GSE63369.