Pacific Biosciences

Automatically detect DNA base modifications such as methylation on the PacBio RS II

DNA base modifications are important to the understanding of biological processes such as gene expression, host-pathogen interactions, DNA damage, and DNA repair. Traditionally, it has been difficult for scientists to study the more than 20 types of base modifications that occur in nature. Most studies to date have focused solely on cytosine methylation using indirect detection methods. Given the central role of base modifications in a wide variety of natural and disease processes, the ability to detect these changes is key to a more complete understanding of biological function.

Single molecule, real-time (SMRT) Analysis software works by measuring the rate of DNA base incorporation during sequencing. This information, automatically gathered during the sequencing process, is a unique feature of our SMRT technology. The initial software release simplifies the process of detecting base modification events in native genomic DNA through a user-friendly analysis and visualization interface.

Benefits:

• Resolve strand-specific modifications - unamplified double-stranded input DNA enables detection of strand-specific modifications such as hemimethylation
• Single-base resolution - visualize a wide variety of base modifications in high-resolution
• Integrated sequence and chemical modification detection - epigenetic and other base modification data are gathered in the sequencing process, as an integral part of the sequencing workflow
• Hypothesis-free detection - no prior knowledge of the modification is needed, allowing discovery of unknown or unexpected modifications