Hunting for the 5th base: Techniques for analyzing DNA methylation.
BACKGROUND
In the recent past large progress has been made in the analysis of the epigenome, the entirety of epigenetic modifications, and its meaning for the implementation of the genetic code. Besides histone modifications and miRNA expression, DNA methylation is one of the key players in the field of epigenetics, involved in numerous regulatory processes.


METHODS
In the present review we focus on methods for the analysis of DNA methylation patterns and present an overview about techniques and basic principles available for this purpose.
We here discuss advantages and disadvantages of various methods and their feasibility for specific tasks of DNA methylation analysis.
Ammerpohl
Ole
O
Institute of Human Genetics, Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel, Germany. oammerpohl@medgen.uni-kiel.de
Martín-Subero
José I
JI
Richter
Julia
J
Vater
Inga
I
Siebert
Reiner
R
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D018899:CpG Islands; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction