Section outline

  • In this session, we will discuss DNA methylation in eukaryotes, with a focus on mammalian 5mC methylation of cytosines in CpG context.

    13:30 The first part (theory, around 1 hour) will present the topics:

    • Introduction and  role of DNA-methylation in mammals
    • How is DNA-methylation experimentally measured (technology)
    • Typical methylation patterns found in mammals (PMDs, LMRs, UMRs/CGI) and their biological interpretation
    • Outline of a typical analysis workflow and tools

    In the second part (exercises, rest of the session), we will use R/Bioconductor on small sample datasets to:

    • go from raw bis-seq reads to cytosine methylation values
    • identify hypomethylated regions (methylome segmentation)
    • visualize and interpret the results

    For the second part (exercises) please install the required R packages as shown in the exercises handout in section 1 "Install required software".

    15:15 Coffee break