Abstract 4530: EpiCapture: Benchmarking commercially available targeted bisulfite-sequencing platforms to gold-standard whole genome bisulfite sequencing

Abstract

Abstract Genomic DNA methylation is one of the most important epigenetic modifications in eukaryotes necessary for cellular differentiation and plays a crucial role in gene regulation of many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Aberrant DNA methylation at the level of both individual gene promoters and on a genome-wide scale has been heavily implicated in cancer initiation and progression. Whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) is the gold standard method for studying alterations in DNA methylation at a single base pare resolution. However, the high cost of WGBS is still prohibitive for high-throughput observational studies on large sample cohorts. Moreover, the WGBS data analysis requires substantial IT resources and a complex bioinformatics analysis. Targeted bisulfite sequencing enables a cost-effective and focused analysis of genomic regions of interest where most of DNA methylation alterations occur, such as promoters, CpG islands and shores, and enhancer regions. Currently, there are 2 main approaches for targeted bisulfite sequencing of medium-to-large genomic regions, reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) and hybridization-based enrichment. We have performed a comparison of 5 commercially available platforms for RRBS and in-solution hybridization-based enrichment panels. We analyzed a panel of two cancer cell lines (Hela and Coriell NA12878) and a normal blood reference gDNA sample, in duplicate on each platform using recommended sample inputs, and compared the results to WGBS data. Given that sample input requirements differ significantly between RRBS (∼100ng or less), and hybridization based methods (500ng - 1 μg), we have analyzed the normal blood reference gDNA sample at 500ng input in duplicate across all platforms. All samples were sequenced to a ∼30x depth on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencer. We compared the genomic coverage, precision and off-target effects and overall concordance in methylome profiles for each method. In summary, here we provide a comprehensive comparison of the performance of 5 different commercially available methods for medium to large scale targeted bisulfite sequencing, facilitating information to researchers for selection of appropriate method depending on required application. Citation Format: Miljana Tanic, Simon Rodney, James Barrett, Hannah Parker, Andrew Feber, Stephan Beck. EpiCapture: Benchmarking commercially available targeted bisulfite-sequencing platforms to gold-standard whole genome bisulfite sequencing. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4530.