Chromatin immunoprecipitation for genome-wide mapping of endogenous G-quadruplex DNA structures

G-rich DNA sequences can form four-stranded G-quadruplex (G4) secondary structures and are linked to fundamental biological processes such as transcription, replication and telomere maintenance. G4s are also implicated in promoting genome instability, cancer and other diseases. Here, we describe a detailed G4 ChIP-seq method that robustly enables the determination of G4 structure formation genome-wide in chromatin. This protocol adapts traditional ChIP-seq for the detection of DNA secondary structures through the use of a G4-structure-specific phage display antibody with refinements in chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing. Beginning with chromatin isolation and antibody preparation the entire protocol can be completed in less than 1 week including computational analysis. Overall design: One cell line analysed with G4 ChIP-seq to detect the presence of G-Quadruplexes. Experiment performed in triplicates.