Application of Chromatrap® Solid-State Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) for epigenetic profiling of insects

We report the application of Chromatraps® Solid-State Chromatin Immunoprecipitation technology for epigenetic profiling of histone modifications in insects. Here, we present the optimised protocol and conditions of Chromatrap® kits for successful ChIP and high-throughput sequencing of established model species, Drosophila melanogaster and the emerging model for behavioural plasticity Nicrophorus vespilloides. We highlight successful ChIP-seq of Drosophila melanogaster (Oregon-R) of comparable quality to modENCODE data and present successful enrichment of histone marks for Nicrophorus vespilloides. The addition of this insect-based ChIP-seq protocol provides a set of optimal guidelines to aid streamline end-users epigenetic research focus and reduce experimental time. Overall design: Optimization of ChIP-seq protocol for insect tissue of two species; Drosophila melanogaster (strain: Oregon-R) and Nicrophorus vespilloides at two different life stages; 3rd instar larvae and adult whole brains respectively. Four replicates per insect investigated using one antibody; H3K4me3 including input controls for each ChIP assay.