Blood contains cfDNA fragments derived from dying cells 1 . cfDNA has a half-life of ~15 min 2 and, therefore, represents events that occurred close to sampling time. cfDNA analysis is used for assessment of fetus chromosomal aberrations, graft rejection, monitoring tumor dynamics and targeted treatment [3][4][5][6][7] . These applications rely on genetic differences between the host and the tissue of interest. Analysis of CpG methylation in cfDNA is emerging as an alternative independent of genetic alteration 5,[8][9][10][11] . CpG methylation profiles are determined during differentiation and are stable afterwards and, thus, are highly informative about cell identity (for example, liver or lung). However, genetic and methylation-based approaches do not report on recent transcriptional events, as mutations and methylation changes occur over developmental time scales.The basic repeating unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which is a histone-DNA complex encompassing ~150 base pairs (bp) of DNA 12 . Histone proteins are subject to multiple covalent modifications, which are involved in nearly all aspects of messenger RNA (mRNA) biogenesis [13][14][15][16] . Histone modification patterns reflect recent events related to chromatin regulation and activity of RNA polymerase 13,15 , and different combinations of such modifications mark the location and activity of non-coding regions, enhancers, promoters and gene bodies [17][18][19][20][21][22] . Chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) enables genome-wide mapping of histone modifications and provides detailed understanding of the regulatory activity within cells [17][18][19][23][24][25][26][27] .Upon cell death, the genome is fragmented, and chromatin, mostly in the form of nucleosomes, is released into the circulation as cell-free nucleosomes (cf-nucleosomes) 28-30 that retain some histone modifications [31][32][33] . We reasoned that capturing and DNA sequencing of modified nucleosomes from plasma might inform on DNA-related activities, including transcription, within the cells of origin (Fig. 1a). This currently inaccessible epigenetic information extends beyond cfDNA modalities examined to date [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] .In this study, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing of cell-free nucleosomes directly from human plasma (cfChIP-seq). We show that cfChIP-seq recapitulates the original genomic distribution of modifications associated with transcriptionally active promoters, enhancers and gene bodies, demonstrating that plasma nucleosomes retain the epigenetic information of their