Analyzing ChIP-seq data: Preprocessing, normalization, differential identification, and binding pattern characterization

Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) is a high-throughput antibody-based method to study genome-wide protein-DNA binding interactions. ChIP-seq technology allows scientist to obtain more accurate data providing genome-wide coverage with less starting material and in shorter time compared to older ChIP-chip experiments. Herein we describe a step-by-step guideline in analyzing ChIP-seq data including data preprocessing, nonlinear normalization to enable comparison between different samples and experiments, statistical-based method to identify differential binding sites using mixture modeling and local false discovery rates (fdrs), and binding pattern characterization. In addition, we provide a sample analysis of ChIP-seq data using the steps provided in the guideline.