This webinar discusses a new library preparation method that enables complete methylome characterization from only about 20 starting cells.

A key limitation to epigenetic studies has been the amount of starting material that is required to perform DNA sequencing of bisulfite-converted samples. Swift Biosciences has addressed this with a new method that dramatically reduces the amount of required starting material.

The Accel-NGS Methyl-Seq DNA Library Kit for Illumina platforms is based on Swift's Adaptase technology, a molecular biology method compatible with single-stranded DNA. Researchers can use Adaptase technology to create next-generation sequencing libraries after bisulfite treatment, thereby generating high-quality DNA sequencing data from five hundredfold less input DNA than other commercially available kits.

In this online seminar, Chongyuan Luo of Joseph Ecker’s lab at the Salk Institute details a comparison of the Swift Biosciences method with traditional methylC-seq and will also discuss several projects that have pushed the limits of the technology. He will show comparable coverage and strand evenness of a complex methylome library prepared from 1 ng of Arabidopsis DNA as compared to methylC-seq results. Additionally, the lab has successfully prepared ‘direct’ methylome libraries by fragmenting DNA solely with bisulfite conversion and thus removing the need of physical DNA fragmentation. Finally, methylome libraries were prepared from 10 mammalian neuron nuclei by combining bisulfite conversion and DNA purification into one step. This novel approach allows for efficient methylome library preparation from tissues and preserves precious DNA from minute amounts of starting cells.