Cut&tag: a powerful epigenetic tool for chromatin profiling

Epigenetics. 2024 Dec;19(1):2293411. doi: 10.1080/15592294.2023.2293411. Epub 2023 Dec 17.

Abstract

Analysis of transcription factors and chromatin modifications at the genome-wide level provides insights into gene regulatory processes, such as transcription, cell differentiation and cellular response. Chromatin immunoprecipitation is the most popular and powerful approach for mapping chromatin, and other enzyme-tethering techniques have recently become available for living cells. Among these, Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation (CUT&Tag) is a relatively novel chromatin profiling method that has rapidly gained popularity in the field of epigenetics since 2019. It has also been widely adapted to map chromatin modifications and TFs in different species, illustrating the association of these chromatin epitopes with various physiological and pathological processes. Scalable single-cell CUT&Tag can be combined with distinct platforms to distinguish cellular identity, epigenetic features and even spatial chromatin profiling. In addition, CUT&Tag has been developed as a strategy for joint profiling of the epigenome, transcriptome or proteome on the same sample. In this review, we will mainly consolidate the applications of CUT&Tag and its derivatives on different platforms, give a detailed explanation of the pros and cons of this technique as well as the potential development trends and applications in the future.

Keywords: CUT&Tag; Tn5 tagmentation; chromatin profiling; epigenetics; single-cell CUT&Tag.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Chromatin* / genetics
  • DNA Methylation
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Epigenomics / methods
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing* / methods

Substances

  • Chromatin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Postdoctoral Research Grant of Shenzhen to LPP (2237PT).