Methylation Analysis

Understand genome regulation with DNA methylation analysis

The Ultima Advantage

DNA methylation can be analyzed in several ways including Bisulfite conversion, Enzymatic Methylation and TAPS+.

Learn about UG 100
VendorAvg. Read Length
BiSultfiteIDT170
EM-SeqNEB220
TAPS+Watchmaker250

Bisulfite conversion is a chemical treatment that is one of the most established methods for comprehensive DNA methylation analysis. Bisulfite treatment selectively converts unmethylated cytosines to uracils, while leaving methylated cytosines unchanged. This chemical transformation creates a distinction between methylated and unmethylated cytosines that can be read through subsequent DNA sequencing. After conversion, the DNA is amplified by PCR, during which uracils are read as thymines. This means that in the final sequencing data, original unmethylated cytosines appear as thymines, while methylated cytosines remain as cytosines. Our validated MethylSeq experiments use xGen™ Methylation-Sequencing DNA Library Preparation Kit from IDT to conduct bisulfite conversion and library prep followed by indexing PCR to create Solaris Flex compatible libraries. This workflow typically includes whole genome sequencing of paired converted and non-converted samples.

Bisulfite Conversion and Library Prep with xGen™ Methylation-Sequencing DNA Library Preparation KitMethylation Profiling on UG 100 Application Note

Enzymatic methylation sequencing (EM-seq) is a newer alternative to bisulfite conversion for detecting DNA methylation that uses enzymes rather than chemical treatment. The method involves two key enzymes working sequentially to deaminate unmodified cytosines to uracils, while methylated cytosines remain protected from deamination. During PCR amplification, uracils are read as thymines, so unmethylated cytosines appear as thymines in sequencing reads, while methylated cytosines remain as cytosines—just like bisulfite sequencing.

Our validated EM-seq experiments use NEBNext® Enzymatic Methyl-seq v2 Kit and indexing PCR to create Solaris Flex compatible libraries to reveal the differential methylation of paired converted and non-converted samples.

EM- Seq Library Prep with NEBNext® Enzymatic Methyl-seq v2 KitMethylation Profiling on UG 100 Application Note

TAPS+ experiments use Watchmaker DNA Library Prep with TAPS+ to conduct a conversion of methylated DNA bases. Because the conversion only works on methylated bases the original balance of base complexity is maintained during the library prep allowing a 5 base readout of the genome.

Watchmaker TAPS+ Library PrepVideo: TAPS+ on Ultima

The UG 100™ sequencing platform helps eliminate file transfer time and reduce compute costs with flexible and free open-source analysis on-platform. Whole genome methylation sequencing on the UG 100 sequencing platform includes read trimming, alignment (using a methylation-aware reference), and sorting. This is followed by automated on-instrument secondary methylation analysis using Methyl Dackel which provides output of methylation statistics and QC information.

See an example Methylation Report

Methyl Dackel GitHub Page

Genomics at scale with
UG 100 Solaris™ Flex

The UG 100 Solaris™ Flex workflow allows for seamless adaptation of partial or full-length existing libraries generated from third-party library kits though a simple PCR.

Explore Solaris library prepView library compatibility guide

Workflow Highlights

Indexing PCR
Adapter namesxGen™ Indexing PCR primers
Purchase fromIDT
Sample indexing384 sample indices
DNA typeexisting libraries with known adapters
DNA input range10ng

*DNA input amounts verified by Ultima Genomics.

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Integrated Dna Technologies
Library Preparation

xGen Methyl-Seq Library Prep Kit utilizes Adaptase™ technology that efficiently captures bisulfite-converted ssDNA molecules into library molecules for epigenetic research studies.

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Watermaker Genomics
Library Preparation

Watchmaker DNA library prep with TAPS+ is a positive-readout chemistry that directly converts methylated Cs (5mCs) to Ts, and preserves unmethylated Cs. This maintains base complexity (ATCG) and delivers 5mC, SNV/indel, and CNV detection from a single library for multimodal analysis.

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Fabric Genomics
Library Preparation

NEBNext Enzymatic Methyl-seq (EM-seq™) v2 is a high-performance enzyme-based library prep for the identification of 5mC and 5hmC that minimizes DNA damage, allowing for detection of methylated cytosines with a more streamlined workflow and lower input requirements than previous kits.

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