The DNA methylome of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Homo sapiens

DNA methylation plays a vital role in genome dynamics and, in the human genome, occurs predominantly at cytosine guanine dinucleotide (CpG) sites. The diploid haploid human genome analysed here contains around 2060 million CpG sites (methylome) where DNA methylation can vary, affecting many biological processes in health and disease. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, we report the essentially complete (92.6282%) methylome of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which constitute an important source for clinical blood tests world-wide. We find the majority of CpG sites (68.4% at false positive rate of 0.46%) and only 80% displayed allele-specific expression (ASE) after random testing using TA clone sequencing of the same PBMC sample. These data show, that ASM is a recurrent phenomenon and highly correlated with ASE, suggesting that imprinting may be more common than previously thought. Our study not only provides a comprehensive resource for future epigenomic research but also demonstrates a paradigm of large-scale epigenomics studies through new sequencing technology. Overall design: We report the essentially complete (92.6282%) methylome of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which constitute an important source for clinical blood tests world-wide.