Pyrosequencing

Florence Busato, Jörg Tost

The analysis of allele-specific DNA methylation patterns has recently attracted much interest as loci of allele-specific DNA methylation overlap with known risk loci for complex diseases and the analysis might contribute to the fine-mapping and interpretation of non-coding genetic variants associated with complex diseases and improve the understanding between genotype and phenotype. In the presented protocol, we present a method for the analysis of DNA methylation patterns on both alleles separately using heterozygous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) as anchor for allele-specific PCR amplification followed by analysis of the allele-specific DNA methylation patterns by Pyrosequencing(®). Pyrosequencing is an easy-to-handle, quantitative real-time sequencing method that is frequently used for genotyping as well as for the analysis of DNA methylation patterns. The protocol consists of three major steps: (1) identification of individuals heterozygous for a SNP in a region of interest using Pyrosequencing; (2) analysis of the DNA methylation patterns surrounding the SNP on bisulfite-treated DNA to identify regions of potential allele-specific DNA methylation; and (3) the analysis of the DNA methylation patterns associated with each of the two alleles, which are individually amplified using allele-specific PCR. The enrichment of the targeted allele is re-enforced by modification of the allele-specific primers at the allele-discriminating base with Locked Nucleic Acids (LNA). For the proof-of-principle of the developed approach, we provide assay details for three imprinted genes (IGF2, IGF2R, and PEG3) within this chapter. The mean of the DNA methylation patterns derived from the individual alleles corresponds well to the overall DNA methylation patterns and the developed approach proved more reliable compared to other protocols for allele-specific DNA methylation analysis.