ATAC-Seq Resource Center

Introduction

ATAC-Seq stands for Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing. The ATAC-Seq method relies on next-generation sequencing (NGS) library construction using the hyperactive transposase Tn5. NGS adapters are loaded onto the transposase, which allows simultaneous fragmentation of chromatin and integration of those adapters into open chromatin regions. The library that is generated can be sequenced by NGS and the regions of the genome with open or accessible chromatin are analyzed using bioinformatics.

The main advantages of ATAC-Seq compared to other techniques, such as FAIRE-Seq or DNase-Seq that investigate similar chromatin features, are the lower number of cells that are required for the assay and the relative simplicity of its two-step protocol.

The ATAC-Seq protocol requires only about 50,000 cells as starting material, and with its relatively short two-step protocol, it is an attractive method to start your epigenetic journey. Whether you want to analyze the state of the chromatin in your sample or compare the chromatin state before and after a special treatment, ATAC-Seq allows you to investigate genome-wide chromatin changes and can offer guidelines about which epigenetic modification or transcription factor should be studied next in the follow-up experiments and which method should be used to study them.

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