Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing Facilitates Quantitative Analysis of DNA Methylation status in sperm from 2 month old and 18 month old mice

We report the application of whole genome bisulfite sequencing technology for high-throughput profiling of DNA methylation in mice sperm at young and aging stages. By obtaining over 500 billion bases of sequence from genomic DNA, we generated genome-wide methylation-state maps of sperm from young and aging stages. We find that 2984 differetial methylation regions(DMR) in whole genome, including 916 DMR in promoter regions betweenin sperm from young and aging stages. 591 of DMR in promoter regions were significantly hypomethylated (~59.82%) and 397 significantly hypermethylated (~40.18%) in sperm of old males. Examination of different methylation regions in young and old mice sperm