While there has been an increasing number of books on various aspects of epigenetics, there has been a gap over the years in books that provide a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of chromatin. Chromatin is the combination of DNA and proteins that make up the genetic material of chromosomes. Its primary function is to package DNA to fit into the cell, to strengthen the DNA to prevent damage, to allow mitosis and meiosis, and to control the expression of genes and DNA replication. The audience for this book is mainly newly established scientists and graduate students. Rather than going into the more specific areas of recent research on chromatin the chapters in this book give a strong, updated groundwork about the topic. Some the fundamentals that this book will cover include the structure of chromatin and biochemistry and the enzyme complexes that manage it.

This book provides timely reviews of several protein complexes that regulate gene expression and chromatin dynamics. Examples of such complexes include: nucleosome assembly complexes, ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes, histone acetyltransferase complexes, histone deacetylase complexes, heterochromatin complexes, SMC complexes and transcription elongation complexes. These chapters will bring experts in the field up to date on several aspects of chromosome biology and will provide an exiting introduction to the field for new chromatin researchers.

While there has been an increasing number of books on various aspects of epigenetics, there has been a gap over the years in books that provide a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of chromatin. Chromatin is the combination of DNA and proteins that make up the genetic material of chromosomes. Its primary function is to package DNA to fit into the cell, to strengthen the DNA to prevent damage, to allow mitosis and meiosis, and to control the expression of genes and DNA replication. The audience for this book is mainly newly established scientists and graduate students. Rather than going into the more specific areas of recent research on chromatin the chapters in this book give a strong, updated groundwork about the topic. Some the fundamentals that this book will cover include the structure of chromatin and biochemistry and the enzyme complexes that manage it.

An early view of eukaryotic chromosomes was that of static structures, which stored DNA not in use within a given cell type. It was thought that packaging of DNA into higher levels of chromatin structure would suffice to repress gene expression and that the challenge to the cell would be to rescue specific sequences from these structures. The exten sive packaging of inactive DNA was considered the primary difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes and except for that point both would be similarly regulated by cis-acting sequences and trans acting factors. Our view of eukaryotic chromosomes has evolved dra matically over the last decade. The picture of chromosomes that is emerging is that of dynamic breathing organelles actively regulating the flow of genetic information from the genome. Indeed chromatin is so fluid that even maintaining gene quiescence is an active process and is tightly regulated. Chromatin dynamics is a consequence of protein complexes that modify histones, remove histone modifications, mobi lize nucleosomes or stabilize nucleosomes. Awide variety of such com plexes have now been described. Some are abundant and may play glo bal roles in chromosome fluidity and function. Others are more rare and specialized for specific functions at discreet loci. Moreover, several complexes share biochemical activities and genetic studies suggest overlapping functions in vivo. Many components of these complexes were first revealed in genetic screens, while others were discovered by novel cell biological or biochemical approaches.