Oxidative Bisulfite Sequencing (oxBS-Seq) A Brilliant Advance for Epigenetics

There is exciting news regarding a new method to detect 5-hmC quantitatively at high resolution – using any sequencing platform. The new method, termed oxidative bisulfite sequencing (oxBS-Seq) , was applied to explore the 5-hmC mark’s potential functional role in epigenetic plasticity. First author Michael J. Booth, along with collaborators from the Wolf Reik lab at the Babraham Institute, and Shankar Balasubramanian lab at Cambridge University, have reported their work in Science Magazine. In brief, this method uses potassium perruthenate (KRuO4) oxidation to convert 5hmC to 5fC (formylcytosine), and is followed up by conventional bisulfite conversion. Through this process C and 5-hmC sites convert to Uracil, whereas 5-mC does not. OxBS-Seq data is then subtracted from BS-Seq data. The group … Continue reading →