Finding the fifth base: Genome-wide sequencing of cytosine methylation

  1. Ryan Lister and
  2. Joseph R Ecker,1
  1. The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  1. E-mail: ecker{at}salk.edu

Abstract

Complete sequences of myriad eukaryotic genomes are now available, including several human genomes, and recent dramatic developments in DNA sequencing technology are opening the floodgates to vast volumes of sequence data. Yet, despite knowing for several decades that a significant proportion of cytosines in the genomes of plants and animals are present in the form of methylcytosine, until very recently the precise locations of these modified bases have never been accurately mapped throughout a eukaryotic genome. Advanced next-generation DNA sequencing technologies are now enabling the global mapping of this epigenetic modification at single base resolution, providing new insights into the regulation and dynamics of DNA methylation in genomes.

Keywords:

Footnotes

    • Received November 9, 2008.
    • Accepted March 5, 2009.

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  1. Published in Advance March 9, 2009, doi: 10.1101/gr.083451.108 Genome Res. gr.083451.108 Copyright © 2009, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

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