Bisulfite modification of immobilized DNAs for methylation detection

We have developed a novel method for detecting DNA methylation status of multiple samples, in which the DNA samples were firstly immobilized on the slide and treated with bisulfite directly on the chip. In this experiment, DNAs of pUC19 plasmid were restricted by the enzymes, and ligated with a linker bearing 5'-terminal acrylamide group at the sticky ends. Using universal acrylamide gel polymerization technique, a large amount of DNAs could be immobilized on the slide. The immobilized DNAs were converted by soaking the chip in bisulfite reaction mixtures for 16 h. The probes for detection of the methylation patterns of CpG sites hybridized with the converted DNAs on the microarray, and non-specifically bound probes were cleaned by electrophoresis. We have optimized the experimental conditions of both bisulfite treatment and electrophoresis to increase sensitivity and specificity. The results were further validated by bisulfite DNA sequencing. The experiments show that the method can simplify the experimental processes and increase the efficiency of the bisulfite treatment. This novel method could be used as a convenient tool to detect the methylation status of the multiple genes for a large amount of samples in the future.     

Characterization of Genome-Methylome Interactions in 22 Nuclear Pedigrees

Genetic polymorphisms can shape the global landscape of DNA methylation, by either changing substrates for DNA methyltransferases or altering the DNA binding affinity of cis-regulatory proteins. The interactions between CpG methylation and genetic polymorphisms have been previously investigated by methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTL) and allele-specific methylation (ASM) analysis. However, it remains unclear whether these approaches can effectively and comprehensively identify all genetic variants that contribute to the inter-individual variation of DNA methylation levels. Here we used three independent approaches to systematically investigate the influence of genetic polymorphisms on variability in DNA methylation by characterizing the methylation state of 96 whole blood samples in 52 parent-child trios from 22 nuclear pedigrees. We performed targeted bisulfite sequencing with padlock probes to quantify the absolute DNA methylation levels at a set of 411,800 CpG sites in the human genome. With mid-parent offspring analysis (MPO), we identified 10,593 CpG sites that exhibited heritable methylation patterns, among which 70.1% were SNPs directly present in methylated CpG dinucleotides. We determined the mQTL analysis identified 49.9% of heritable CpG sites for which regulation occurred in a distal cis-regulatory manner, and that ASM analysis was only able to identify 5%. Finally, we identified hundreds of clusters in the human genome for which the degree of variation of CpG methylation, as opposed to whether or not CpG sites were methylated, was associated with genetic polymorphisms, supporting a recent hypothesis on the genetic influence of phenotypic plasticity. These results show that cis-regulatory SNPs identified by mQTL do not comprise the full extent of heritable CpG methylation, and that ASM appears overall unreliable. Overall, the extent of genome-methylome interactions is well beyond what is detectible with the commonly used mQTL and ASM approaches, and is likely to include effects on plasticity.     

High density DNA methylation array with single CpG site resolution

We have developed a new generation of genome-wide DNA methylation BeadChip which allows high-throughput methylation profiling of the human genome. The new high density BeadChip can assay over 480K CpG sites and analyze twelve samples in parallel. The innovative content includes coverage of 99% of RefSeq genes with multiple probes per gene, 96% of CpG islands from the UCSC database, CpG island shores and additional content selected from whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data and input from DNA methylation experts. The well-characterized Infinium® Assay is used for analysis of CpG methylation using bisulfite-converted genomic DNA. We applied this technology to analyze DNA methylation in normal and tumor DNA samples and compared results with whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) data obtained for the same samples. Highly comparable DNA methylation profiles were generated by the array and sequencing methods (average R² of 0.95). The ability to determine genome-wide methylation patterns will rapidly advance methylation research.     

DNA甲基化分析中重亚硫酸盐处理DNA转化效率的评估方法

为建立一种评估重亚硫酸盐处理DNA样本后胞嘧啶转化效率的有效方法,以两组不同的TaqMan qPCR检测梯度稀释的重亚硫酸盐处理和未处理的DNA标准品,建立转化与未转化的DNA Ct值以及对应的DNA拷贝数的标准曲线。使用相同的探针定量检测重亚硫酸盐处理后的DNA样本评估转化效率。结果显示该方法应用两组探针,根据相应的标准曲线,精确评估样本经重亚硫酸盐处理的转化效率。使用已知转化和未转化拷贝数的混合DNA作为模板,证实了该方法的可靠性。同时也对不同重亚硫酸盐试剂盒处理DNA的转化效率进行了评估,结果显示,该方法能够有效地评估DNA样品重亚硫酸盐的转化效率,为DNA甲基化准确分析提供了可靠快捷的方法。     

Archived Guthrie blood spots as a novel source for quantitative DNA methylation analysis

Sodium bisulfite treatment followed by PCR and DNA sequencing is widely considered the gold standard for the analysis of DNA methylation patterns. However, this technique generally requires substantial quantities of genomic DNA as starting material and is often associated with degradation of DNA. Here, we assess the feasibility of performing bisulfite sequencing on DNA isolated from 3-mm diameter punches of dried blood Guthrie spots. We demonstrate that it is possible to perform bisulfite sequencing from both freshly prepared and archived dried blood spots, using a combination of high purity DNA extraction and efficient bisulfite conversion. With the number of new technologies available for DNA methylation studies, we have extended this analysis and have successfully used a high-throughput mass spectrometry method for DNA methylation analysis on these samples. This provides a new source of material for epigenetic analysis of birth samples and provides an invaluable reference point to track temporal change in epigenetic profiles possibly linked with health and disease.     

Bisulfite-modified target DNA array for aberrant methylation analysis

Aberrant DNA methylation of CpG islands is among the earliest and most frequent alterations in cancer. It is of great importance to develop simple and high-throughput methods of methylation analysis for earlier cancer diagnosis or the detection of recurrence. In this study, bisulfite-modified target DNA arrays were prepared on positively charged nylon membrane with two different procedures: fixing PCR products and fixing genomic DNA. First, a bisulfite PCR product array was prepared through fixing PCR products amplified in bisulfite sequencing primers from the bisulfite-modified genomic DNA of different clinical samples on membrane. Furthermore, bisulfite-modified genomic DNA of the different samples was directly fixed on membrane to fabricate bisulfite genomic DNA arrays. The two kinds of arrays were hybridized by probes labeled with digoxigenin, and the hybridization signals were obtained through chemiluminescent detection. The methylation statuses of the IGFBP7 gene for breast tumor and normal tissue samples and for normal human blood cell samples were detected successfully by the two procedures. It was shown that the methods are reliable and sensitive and that they have high potential in screening molecular methylation markers from a large number of clinical samples.     

HRCA技术在转基因植物检测中的应用

超分支滚环扩增技术（Hyperbranched rolling cycle amplification, HRCA）在近几年中逐渐引起人们的注意,并越来越多的用于基础研究和实际检测中。在本文中我们对该技术在转基因植物检测中的应用情况作了较全面的探索;根据4种转基因植物中常用的外源基因或DNA片段设计了4条锁式探针（Padlock probe）,利用质粒pKK2328中的一段序列作为锁式探针中的共同连接部分,并根据该共同的连接部分序列设计一对通用的HRCA引物;利用同位素标记的锁式探针对HRCA反应中的连接一步的特异性研究表明,只有当锁式探针和相应的检测靶DNA同时存在于连接体系中时,锁式探针才能被有效地进行连接,从线性分子变为环型分子,在没有相应靶DNA存在时锁式探针仅以线性形式存在;连接时间的研究表明,如果所检测的靶DNA是质粒或较短的DNA片段时,较短的连接时间（5～10min）就可以取得理想的最终检测效果,如果检测的靶DNA是复杂的植物基因组DNA时,连接时间需要较大程度的延长（30～60min）才能取得理想的最终检测结果;HRCA的反应时间研究表明,较长的反应时间可以明显增加最终产物的量;对Bst DNA聚合酶大片段酶用量的研究表明,在其它条件不变的情况下酶的用量可以在较大的范围内变化（0.5u～4u）而不影响最终检测结果;在上述研究的基础上,对转基因烟草进行实际检测,取得了与预期一致的理想结果。为了提高检测效率,仿效复合式PCR（Multiplex PCR,MPCR）的原理采用复合式HRCA（Multiplex HRCA, MHRCA）方法对转基因烟草进行检测,并利用反向点杂交进行结果分析,取得同预期完全一致的结果。我们的研究表明HRCA方法完全可以用于转基因植物的检测,而且其使用比MPCR技术更方便,效率更高。     

Parallel gene analysis with allele-specific padlock probes and tag microarrays

Parallel, highly specific analysis methods are required to take advantage of the extensive information about DNA sequence variation and of expressed sequences. We present a scalable laboratory technique suitable to analyze numerous target sequences in multiplexed assays. Sets of padlock probes were applied to analyze single nucleotide variation directly in total genomic DNA or cDNA for parallel genotyping or gene expression analysis. All reacted probes were then co-amplified and identified by hybridization to a standard tag oligonucleotide array. The technique was illustrated by analyzing normal and pathogenic variation within the Wilson disease-related ATP7B gene, both at the level of DNA and RNA, using allele-specific padlock probes.     

Detection of Cytosine Methylation in Ancient DNA from Five Native American Populations Using Bisulfite Sequencing

While cytosine methylation has been widely studied in extant populations, relatively few studies have analyzed methylation in ancient DNA. Most existing studies of epigenetic marks in ancient DNA have inferred patterns of methylation in highly degraded samples using post-mortem damage to cytosines as a proxy for cytosine methylation levels. However, this approach limits the inference of methylation compared with direct bisulfite sequencing, the current gold standard for analyzing cytosine methylation at single nucleotide resolution. In this study, we used direct bisulfite sequencing to assess cytosine methylation in ancient DNA from the skeletal remains of 30 Native Americans ranging in age from approximately 230 to 4500 years before present. Unmethylated cytosines were converted to uracils by treatment with sodium bisulfite, bisulfite products of a CpG-rich retrotransposon were pyrosequenced, and C-to-T ratios were quantified for a single CpG position. We found that cytosine methylation is readily recoverable from most samples, given adequate preservation of endogenous nuclear DNA. In addition, our results indicate that the precision of cytosine methylation estimates is inversely correlated with aDNA preservation, such that samples of low DNA concentration show higher variability in measures of percent methylation than samples of high DNA concentration. In particular, samples in this study with a DNA concentration above 0.015 ng/μL generated the most consistent measures of cytosine methylation. This study presents evidence of cytosine methylation in a large collection of ancient human remains, and indicates that it is possible to analyze epigenetic patterns in ancient populations using direct bisulfite sequencing approaches.     

Discovery of cross-reactive probes and polymorphic CpGs in the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 microarray

DNA methylation, an important type of epigenetic modification in humans, participates in crucial cellular processes, such as embryonic development, X-inactivation, genomic imprinting and chromosome stability. Several platforms have been developed to study genome-wide DNA methylation. Many investigators in the field have chosen the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation microarray for its ability to reliably assess DNA methylation following sodium bisulfite conversion. Here, we analyzed methylation profiles of 489 adult males and 357 adult females generated by the Infinium HumanMethylation450 microarray. Among the autosomal CpG sites that displayed significant methylation differences between the two sexes, we observed a significant enrichment of cross-reactive probes co-hybridizing to the sex chromosomes with more than 94% sequence identity. This could lead investigators to mistakenly infer the existence of significant autosomal sex-associated methylation. Using sequence identity cutoffs derived from the sex methylation analysis, we concluded that 6% of the array probes can potentially generate spurious signals because of co-hybridization to alternate genomic sequences highly homologous to the intended targets. Additionally, we discovered probes targeting polymorphic CpGs that overlapped SNPs. The methylation levels detected by these probes are simply the reflection of underlying genetic polymorphisms but could be misinterpreted as true signals. The existence of probes that are cross-reactive or of target polymorphic CpGs in the Illumina HumanMethylation microarrays can confound data obtained from such microarrays. Therefore, investigators should exercise caution when significant biological associations are found using these array platforms. A list of all cross-reactive probes and polymorphic CpGs identified by us are annotated in this paper.     

一种用于DNA甲基化分析的改进型亚硫酸氢盐转化法

DNA甲基化分析是认识生理、病理条件下基因表达变化的重要途径.亚硫酸氢盐转化是DNA甲基化分析的瓶颈.本文旨在改进琼脂糖 亚硫酸氢盐DNA处理方案(agarose bisulfite method),建立一种简便稳定、适合常规甲基化分析的亚硫酸氢盐转化法.把DNA包入普通琼脂糖,以饱和亚硫酸氢盐在较高的温度下快速处理,然后用离心柱型琼脂糖凝胶DNA回收试剂盒,集DNA凝胶回收、脱盐、脱磺基和纯化于一体,完成整个转化过程.Bisulfite-PCR、克隆测序和酶切法分析转化率、转化特异性和转化物的质量.用该方案处理的HeLa细胞DNA,多个片段的转化率均大于98%,甲基化片段96.2%的CpG保持不变,可以扩增605 bp的较大片段,灵敏度介于普通法和琼脂糖亚硫酸氢盐法之间,而重复性较二者都好.改良后的方案简化了操作流程,快速稳定,易学易用,可实现高效特异转化,适合于一般实验者对常规检材进行DNA甲基化分析.     

Reducing the risk of false discovery enabling identification of biologically significant genome-wide methylation status using the HumanMethylation450 array

Background

The Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (HM450K) measures the DNA methylation of 485,512 CpGs in the human genome. The technology relies on hybridization of genomic fragments to probes on the chip. However, certain genomic factors may compromise the ability to measure methylation using the array such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), small insertions and deletions (INDELs), repetitive DNA, and regions with reduced genomic complexity. Currently, there is no clear method or pipeline for determining which of the probes on the HM450K bead array should be retained for subsequent analysis in light of these issues.

Results

We comprehensively assessed the effects of SNPs, INDELs, repeats and bisulfite induced reduced genomic complexity by comparing HM450K bead array results with whole genome bisulfite sequencing. We determined which CpG probes provided accurate or noisy signals. From this, we derived a set of high-quality probes that provide unadulterated measurements of DNA methylation.

Conclusions

Our method significantly reduces the risk of false discoveries when using the HM450K bead array, while maximising the power of the array to detect methylation status genome-wide. Additionally, we demonstrate the utility of our method through extraction of biologically relevant epigenetic changes in prostate cancer.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-51) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Heterogeneity and randomness of DNA methylation patterns in human embryonic stem cells

DNA methylation has been proposed to be important in many biological processes and is the subject of intense study. Traditional bisulfite genomic sequencing allows detailed high-resolution methylation pattern analysis of each molecule with haplotype information across a few hundred bases at each locus, but lacks the capacity to gather voluminous data. Although recent technological developments are aimed at assessing DNA methylation patterns in a high-throughput manner across the genome, the haplotype information cannot be accurately assembled when the sequencing reads are short or when each hybridization target only includes one or two cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites. Whether a distinct and nonrandom DNA methylation pattern is present at a given locus is difficult to discern without the haplotype information, and the DNA methylation patterns are much less apparent because the data are often obtained only as methylation frequencies at each CpG site with some of these methods. It would facilitate the interpretation of data obtained from high-throughput bisulfite sequencing if the loci with nonrandom DNA methylation patterns could be distinguished from those that are randomly methylated. In this study, we carried out traditional genomic bisulfite sequencing using the normal diploid human embryonic stem (hES) cell lines, and utilized Hamming distance analysis to evaluate the existence of a distinct and nonrandom DNA methylation pattern at each locus studied. Our findings suggest that Hamming distance is a simple, quick, and useful tool to identify loci with nonrandom DNA methylation patterns and may be utilized to discern links between biological changes and DNA methylation patterns in the high-throughput bisulfite sequencing data sets.     

Quantitative DNA methylation analysis based on four-dye trace data from direct sequencing of PCR amplificates

MOTIVATION: Methylation of cytosines in DNA plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression, and the analysis of methylation patterns is fundamental for the understanding of cell differentiation, aging processes, diseases and cancer development. Such analysis has been limited, because technologies for detailed and efficient high-throughput studies have not been available. We have developed a novel quantitative methylation analysis algorithm and workflow based on direct DNA sequencing of PCR products from bisulfite-treated DNA with high-throughput sequencing machines. This technology is a prerequisite for success of the Human Epigenome Project, the first large genome-wide sequencing study for DNA methylation in many different tissues. Methylation in tissue samples which are compositions of different cells is a quantitative information represented by cytosine/thymine proportions after bisulfite conversion of unmethylated cytosines to uracil and PCR. Calculation of quantitative methylation information from base proportions represented by different dye signals in four-dye sequencing trace files needs a specific algorithm handling imbalanced and overscaled signals, incomplete conversion, quality problems and basecaller artifacts. RESULTS: The algorithm we developed has several key properties: it analyzes trace files from PCR products of bisulfite-treated DNA sequenced directly on ABI machines; it yields quantitative methylation measurements for individual cytosine positions after alignment with genomic reference sequences, signal normalization and estimation of effectiveness of bisulfite treatment; it works in a fully automated pipeline including data quality monitoring; it is efficient and avoids the usual cost of multiple sequencing runs on subclones to estimate DNA methylation. The power of our new algorithm is demonstrated with data from two test systems based on mixtures with known base compositions and defined methylation. In addition, the applicability is proven by identifying CpGs that are differentially methylated in real tissue samples.     

Ligation-based synthesis of oligonucleotides with block structure

We describe here a method for the synthesis of oligonucleotides with block structure (padlock probes, primers for multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and ligation-independent cloning), based on the ligation of presynthesized parts by T4 DNA ligase. The advantages of this approach are: (i) suitability of the technology for any producer-from synthesis company to laboratory, (ii) high quality and adjustable scale of synthesis, and (iii) possibility of including any modified bases inexpensively in the common part of the oligonucleotide. Clear difference of sizes of products and substrates makes the synthesis amenable to automation. For large series of padlock probes, the price per one primer approaches the price of the locus-specific parts. We demonstrate the application of this method to two different tasks: preparative-scale production of padlock probes and small-scale synthesis of PCR primers.     

A new method for accurate assessment of DNA quality after bisulfite treatment

The covalent addition of methylgroups to cytosine has become the most intensively researched epigenetic DNA marker. The vast majority of technologies used for DNA methylation analysis rely on a chemical reaction, the so-called ‘bisulfite treatment’, which introduces methylation-dependent sequence changes through selective chemical conversion of non-methylated cytosine to uracil. After treatment, all non-methylated cytosine bases are converted to uracil but all methylated cytosine bases remain cytosine. These methylation dependent C-to-T changes can subsequently be studied using conventional DNA analysis technologies.

The bisulfite conversion protocol is susceptible to processing errors, and small deviation from the protocol can result in failure of the treatment. Several attempts have been made to simplify the procedure and increase its robustness. Although significant achievements in this area have been made, bisulfite treatment remains the main source of process variability in the analysis of DNA methylation. This variability in particular impairs assays, which strive for the quantitative assessment of DNA methylation. Here we present basic mathematical considerations, which should be taken into account when analyzing DNA methylation. We also introduce a PCR-based assay, which allows ab initio assessment of the DNA quality after bisulfite treatment and can help to prevent inaccurate quantitative measurement resulting from poor bisulfite treatment.

     

Bisulfite sequencing reveals that Aspergillus flavus holds a hollow in DNA methylation

Aspergillus flavus first gained scientific attention for its production of aflatoxin. The underlying regulation of aflatoxin biosynthesis has been serving as a theoretical model for biosynthesis of other microbial secondary metabolites. Nevertheless, for several decades, the DNA methylation status, one of the important epigenomic modifications involved in gene regulation, in A. flavus remains to be controversial. Here, we applied bisulfite sequencing in conjunction with a biological replicate strategy to investigate the DNA methylation profiling of A. flavus genome. Both the bisulfite sequencing data and the methylome comparisons with other fungi confirm that the DNA methylation level of this fungus is negligible. Further investigation into the DNA methyltransferase of Aspergillus uncovers its close relationship with RID-like enzymes as well as its divergence with the methyltransferase of species with validated DNA methylation. The lack of repeat contents of the A. flavus' genome and the high RIP-index of the small amount of remanent repeat potentially support our speculation that DNA methylation may be absent in A. flavus or that it may possess de novo DNA methylation which occurs very transiently during the obscure sexual stage of this fungal species. This work contributes to our understanding on the DNA methylation status of A. flavus, as well as reinforces our views on the DNA methylation in fungal species. In addition, our strategy of applying bisulfite sequencing to DNA methylation detection in species with low DNA methylation may serve as a reference for later scientific investigations in other hypomethylated species.     

PCR-generated padlock probes detect single nucleotide variation in genomic DNA

Circularizing oligonucleotide probes, so-called padlock probes, have properties that should prove valuable in a wide range of genetic investigations, including in situ analyses, genotyping and measurement of gene expression. However, padlock probes can be difficult to obtain by standard oligonucleotide synthesis because they are relatively long and require intact 5′- and 3′-end sequences to function. We describe a PCR-based protocol for flexible small-scale enzymatic synthesis of such probes. The protocol also offers the advantage over chemical synthesis that longer probes can be made that are densely labeled with detectable functions, resulting in an increased detection signal. The utility of probes synthesized according to this protocol is demonstrated for the analysis of single nucleotide variations in human genomic DNA both in situ and in solution.