Epigenetics, the study of chemical modifications that can alter phenotype without altering nucleotide sequence, is significant for a wide range of fields, from developmental biology to disease research. The most well-characterized and widely studied epigenetic modification is 5-methylcytosine (5mC) DNA methylation. While many methods exist for analyzing genomic methylation, traditional techniques present limitations. For example, methylation cannot be sequenced from PCR products, meaning that legacy short-read sequencing technology must infer the presence of methylation via chemically treating DNA samples prior to sequencing.
In this guide from Oxford Nanopore Technologies, discover how Nanopore sequencing enables the direct detection of intact methylation alongside nucleotide sequence without chemical conversion or additional library preparation steps.