Double and single stranded detection of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine with nanopore sequencing

Abstract

5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) are modified versions of cytosine in DNA with roles in regulating gene expression. Using whole genomic DNA from mouse cerebellum, we have benchmarked 5mC and 5hmC detection by Oxford Nanopore Technologies sequencing against other standard techniques. In addition, we assessed the ability of duplex base-calling to study strand asymmetric modification. Nanopore detection of 5mC and 5hmC is accurate relative to compared techniques and opens new means of studying these modifications. Strand asymmetric modification is widespread across the genome but reduced at imprinting control regions and CTCF binding sites in mouse cerebellum. This study demonstrates the unique ability of nanopore sequencing to improve the resolution and detail of cytosine modification mapping.