ABSTRACT
Epigenetics literally means “upon genetics” and bridges DNA information and function by regulating gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence itself. In contrast to arrays containing regulatory regions of genes, tiling arrays also allow the study of epigenetic modifications in noncoding areas, whose role in cell physiology has been gaining importance. Epigenomics is one of the most flourishing areas in biology and medicine today, and the delineation of epigenetic patterns in health and disease has the potential to influence almost every aspect of life. The development of a new generation of sequencers is now revolutionizing both genomics and epigenomics. Cancer cells are characterized by a disruption of the epigenomic machinery, which is reflected in multiple aberrations affecting both content and distribution of DNA methylation and histone modifications as well as alterations in nucleosome remodeling. The epigenomic studies reviewed were aimed mainly at characterizing normal and cancer cells.
