DNA methylation in seals

Epigenetic modifications differ across tissues, individuals, and species. Patterns of DNA methylation have been well studied in humans but not in most other organisms. Here we generated a reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) data set for individuals of three species of seals (Hawaiian monk seal, northern elephant seal, Weddell seal) to answer questions about the biology and evolution of these species.

表观遗传修饰（Epigenetic modifications）在不同组织、个体及物种间存在差异。DNA甲基化（DNA methylation）模式在人类中已得到充分研究，但绝大多数其他物种的此类模式尚未得到类似的深入探索。本研究针对夏威夷僧海豹、北象海豹、威德尔海豹这三种海豹物种的个体，生成了简化代表性亚硫酸氢盐测序（reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing, RRBS）数据集，以解答这些物种的生物学与演化相关问题。