DNA methylation alterations in inflammation-induced colon tumors

We took an enrichment-based approach to perform genome-wide methylation analysis with mouse colon epithelial tissue and colon tumor tissue. Specifically, we used a protien containing the Methyl-CpG-Binding Domain to capture the methylated DNA and subsequently performed high-throughput sequencing (MBD-Seq) to characterize the methylation alterations that occur during inflammation-induced colon tumorigenesis. We performed this analysis on Min mice that have normal expression of the mismatch repair protein MSH2 and mice that are deficient for MSH2 in the intestinal epithelial cells (Msh2l/lVC Min). To ensure that the loss of MSH2 from the intestinal epithelium does not alter the the background microbiota composition of the mice we also performed 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing on stool DNA from Min mice with and without MSH2 in the intestinal epithelium.