Advances in Bioinformatics Tools for High-Throughput Sequencing Data of DNA Methylation

Abstract

DNA methylation plays crucial roles in regulating gene expression during cellular development and differentiation. Recently, Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies spurred a revolution in investigating global DNA methylation profiles. Analysis of DNA methylation patterns on a genome-wide scale is essential to understanding the underlying mechanisms of DNA methylation. Here, we reviewed several next-generation sequencing techniques coupled with different pretreatment methods (endonuclease digestion, affinity enrichment and bisulfite conversion) and summarized the relative bioinformatics tools and resources for further analysis of DNA methylation.