Chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) or high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) has become the gold standard for the identification of binding sites of DNA binding proteins and the localization of histone modification on a locus-specific or genome-wide scale, respectively. ChIP experiments can be divided into seven critical steps: (A) sample collection, (B) crosslinking of proteins to DNA, (C) nuclear extraction, (D) chromatin isolation and fragmentation by sonication, (E) immunoprecipitation of histone marks by appropriate antibodies, (F) DNA recovery, and (G) identification of precipitated protein-associated DNA by qPCR or high-throughput sequencing. Here, we describe a time-efficient protocol that can be used for ChIP-qPCR experiments to study the localization of histone modifications in young inflorescences of the model plants Arabidopsis thaliana.
