Use of the Illumina EPIC methylation array for epigenomic research in the crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Among the 865,918 probes in the Illumina DNA methylation arrays MethylationEPIC BeadChip, a total of 183,509 probes (21.2%) were selected as high-confidence array probes in the crab-eating macaque. Subsequent comparisons revealed that the data from these probes showed good concordance with other DNA methylation datasets of the crab-eating macaque. The selected high-confidence array probes would be useful for high-throughput DNA methylation assays of the crab-eating macaque. Through bioinformatic analyses involving cross-species comparison and consideration of probe performance, we selected array probes that can be reliably used for the crab-eating macaque genome. A DNA methylation assay using an EPIC array was performed on genomic DNA extracted from the brains of five crab-eating macaques. The obtained DNA methylation data were compared with a publicly available dataset.