Bisulfite-free direct detection of 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine at base resolution

We report a new bisulfite-free 5mC and 5hmC base-resolution sequencing method: TET Assisted Pyridine borane Sequencing (TAPS). TAPS relies on mild reactions and detects DNA modifications directly, without affecting unmodified cytosines. We applied this method for the first time to whole genome sequencing in E14 mESC cell line. For comparsion we prepared whole-genome bisulfite sequencing in the same cell line. Compared with bisulfite sequencing, TAPS results in higher mapping rates, more even coverage and lower sequencing cost, enabling more informative and cheaper methylome analyses. We expect TAPS to become the new standard in epigenetic DNA sequencing. 5hmC and 5mC base-resolution sequencing with TAPS method in E14 mESC cell line.