MEAL

MEAL integrates methylation and gene expression data to enable joint and individual analyses for studying epigenetic regulation and associations between DNA methylation, SNPs, and gene expression.

Key Features:

• Data Integration: Integrates methylation and expression datasets to explore relationships between DNA methylation patterns and gene expression levels.
• Individual Analysis Capabilities: Supports standalone analyses of either methylation or expression data.
• Plotting Functionalities: Provides plotting tools to visualize methylation and expression data and their relationships.
• Region Analysis via Redundancy Analysis: Performs redundancy analysis for detailed examination of specific genomic regions.
• SNP Effect Estimation: Estimates the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on methylation and expression within regions.

Scientific Applications:

• Epigenetic mechanism studies: Analyzes how DNA methylation contributes to regulation of gene activity.
• Gene–environment interaction research: Examines combined methylation and expression changes relevant to environmental exposures.
• Complex disease genomics: Investigates methylation–expression associations and SNP effects in diseases with multifactorial etiology.
• Basic to translational genomic studies: Supports genomic studies ranging from basic research to translational applications involving methylation and expression data.

Methodology:

Implemented in R and distributed via the Bioconductor platform.