Key Laboratory for Neuro-Information of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Informational Biology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2021 Nov;118(11):4204-4216. doi: 10.1002/bit.27911. Epub 2021 Aug 20.
DNA modification plays a pivotal role in regulating gene expression in cell development. As prevalent markers on DNA, 5-methylcytosine (5mC), N6-methyladenine (6mA), and N4-methylcytosine (4mC) can be recognized by specific methyltransferases, facilitating cellular defense and the versatile regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have permitted the positions of different modifications to be resolved at the genome-wide scale, which has led to the discovery of several novel insights into the complexity and functions of multiple methylations. In this review, we summarize differences in the various mapping approaches and discuss their pros and cons with respect to their relative read depths, speeds, and costs. We also discuss the development of future sequencing technologies and strategies for improving the detection resolution of current sequencing technologies. Lastly, we speculate on the potentially instrumental role that these sequencing technologies might play in future research.
DNA 修饰在细胞发育过程中调节基因表达中起着关键作用。5-甲基胞嘧啶（5mC）、N6-甲基腺嘌呤（6mA）和 N4-甲基胞嘧啶（4mC）作为 DNA 上常见的标记物，可以被特定的甲基转移酶识别，促进细胞防御和真核生物和原核生物中基因表达的多功能调节。DNA 测序技术的最新进展使得能够在全基因组范围内解析不同修饰的位置，这导致了对多种甲基化的复杂性和功能的一些新的认识。在这篇综述中，我们总结了各种映射方法的差异，并讨论了它们在相对读深度、速度和成本方面的优缺点。我们还讨论了未来测序技术的发展以及提高当前测序技术检测分辨率的策略。最后，我们推测这些测序技术在未来研究中可能起到的重要作用。
