title: Bisulfite methylation profiling of large genomes.
abstract: Bisulfite conversion of genomic DNA differentiates cytosines from 5-methylcytosines and, thus, identifies DNA methylation patterns at the single-base level. Here, we review recent developments incorporating high-throughput sequencing of bisulfite-converted DNA for target-specific analyses and genome-wide mapping of plant and mammalian methylomes. These developments include the analysis of human embryonic stem cell and fetal fibroblast methylomes at single-base resolution, which supports the presence of non-CG DNA methylation in wild-type embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. New developments in nanopore sequencing technologies may lead to directly detecting 5-methylcytosine independently of bisulfite conversion, but the current accuracy of this approach remains a limitation. Furthermore, recent investigations detecting 5-hydroxymethylcytosine within mammalian DNA may add yet another level of complexity to the epigenetic code of the methylome.
authors: Department of Plant Biology, University of Geneva, Sciences III, 30 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, Geneva 4, Switzerland.
authors: Jon
authors: J
authors: Reinders
authors: Jerzy
authors: J
authors: Paszkowski
mesh_terms: D044503:5-Methylcytosine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D017360:Arabidopsis; D003596:Cytosine / Q000737:chemistry; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000235:genetics*; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D058608:Nanopores; D013447:Sulfites
chemical_list: D013447:Sulfites; D044503:5-Methylcytosine; D003596:Cytosine; C042345:hydrogen sulfite