Tackling the epigenome in the pluripotent stem cells

Embryonic stem cells are unique in their abilities of self-renewal and to differentiate into many, if not all, cellular lineages. Transcriptional regulation, epigenetic modifications and chromatin structures are the key modulators in controlling such pluripotency nature of embryonic stem cell genomes, particularly in the developmental decisions and the maintenance of cell fates. Among them, epigenetic regulation of gene expression is mediated partly by covalent modifications of core histone proteins including methylation, phosphorylation and acetylation. Moreover, the chromatins in stem cell genome appear as a highly organized structure containing distinct functional domains. Recent rapid progress of new technologies enables us to take a global, unbiased and comprehensive view of the epigenetic modifications and chromatin structures that contribute to gene expression regulation and cell identity during diverse developmental stages. Here, we summarized the latest advances made by high throughput approaches in profiling epigenetic modifications and chromatin conformations, with an emphasis on genome-wide analysis of histone modifications and their implications in pluripotency nature of embryonic stem cells.