- Sharim, Hila;
- Grunwald, Assaf;
- Gabrieli, Tslil;
- Michaeli, Yael;
- Margalit, Sapir;
- Torchinsky, Dmitry;
- Arielly, Rani;
- Nifker, Gil;
- Juhasz, Matyas;
- Gularek, Felix;
- Almalvez, Miguel;
- Dufault, Brandon;
- Chandra, Sreetama;
- Liu, Alexander;
- Bhattacharya, Surajit;
- Chen, Yi-Wen;
- Vilain, Eric;
- Wagner, Kathryn;
- Pevsner, Jonathan;
- Reifenberger, Jeff;
- Lam, Ernest;
- Hastie, Alex;
- Cao, Han;
- Barseghyan, Hayk;
- Weinhold, Elmar;
- Ebenstein, Yuval
We report on the development of a methylation analysis workflow for optical detection of fluorescent methylation profiles along chromosomal DNA molecules. In combination with Bionano Genomics genome mapping technology, these profiles provide a hybrid genetic/epigenetic genome-wide map composed of DNA molecules spanning hundreds of kilobase pairs. The method provides kilobase pair-scale genomic methylation patterns comparable to whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) along genes and regulatory elements. These long single-molecule reads allow for methylation variation calling and analysis of large structural aberrations such as pathogenic macrosatellite arrays not accessible to single-cell second-generation sequencing. The method is applied here to study facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), simultaneously recording the haplotype, copy number, and methylation status of the disease-associated, highly repetitive locus on Chromosome 4q.