HeteroMeth： A Database of Cell-to-cell Heterogeneity in DNA Methylation

作     者：Qing Huan Yuliang Zhang Shaohuan Wu Wenfeng Qian 

作者机构：State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100101China Key Laboratory of Genetic Network Biology Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100101China University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing 100049China 

出 版 物：《Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics》 (基因组蛋白质组与生物信息学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第16卷第4期

页      面：234-243页

核心收录：

学科分类：0831[工学-生物医学工程（可授工学、理学、医学学位）] 0711[理学-系统科学] 07[理学] 08[工学] 

基　　金：supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences  China awarded to WQ (Grant No. XDA08020303) 

主　　题：Cell-to-cell heterogeneity DNA methylation Bisulfite sequencing Single cell Shannon entropy 

摘      要：DNA methylation is an important epigenetic mark that plays a vital role in gene expression and cell differentiation. The average DNA methylation level among a group of cells has been extensively documented. However, the cell-to-cell heterogeneity in DNA methylation, which reflects the differentiation of epigenetic status among cells, remains less investigated. Here we established a gold standard of the cell-to-cell heterogeneity in DNA methylation based on single-cell bisulfite sequencing （BS-seq） data. With that, we optimized a computational pipeline for estimating the heterogeneity in DNA methylation from bulk BS-seq data. We further built HeteroMeth, a database for searching, browsing, visualizing, and downloading the data for heterogeneity in DNA methylation for a total of 141 samples in humans, mice, Arabidopsis, and rice. Three genes are used as examples to illustrate the power of HeteroMeth in the identification of unique features in DNA methylation. The optimization of the computational strategy and the construction of the database in this study complement the recent experimental attempts on single-cell DNA methylomes and will facilitate the understanding of epigenetic mechanisms underlying cell differentiation and embryonic development. HeteroMeth is publicly available at http：//***/HeteroMeth.