signalAlign

SignalAlign maps cytosine and adenosine DNA methylation by analyzing ionic current signals produced by Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION nanopore sequencing to localize methylation sites across genomes.

Key Features:

• Methylation detection: Identifies DNA chemical modifications focusing on cytosine and adenosine methylation from nanopore signal data.
• Nanopore sequencing integration: Operates on ionic current signals generated by Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION sequencers.
• Variant mapping: Maps three cytosine variants and two adenine variants to provide variant-specific methylation calls.
• Signal-level analysis: Interprets raw ionic current traces to associate signal deviations with nucleotide modifications.
• Quantitative sensitivity: Detects variations in methylation levels enabling comparative analysis across conditions such as growth phases.

Scientific Applications:

• Genomic function regulation: Maps methylation patterns to study how DNA chemical modifications regulate genomic functions.
• Microbial studies: Applied to Escherichia coli to detect changes in methylation levels across different growth phases, supporting microbial genomics and epigenetics research.

Methodology:

Interprets ionic current signals produced by the MinION sequencer to map methylation sites and distinguish three cytosine variants and two adenine variants, detecting variation in methylation levels.