Meeting Abstract

P3-92  Monday, Jan. 6  Historical DNA Methylation Using Computational Methods ZHANG, P*; XU, S; HEATH-HECKMAN, E; JACOBS, D; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Los Angeles pzhang312@ucla.edu

DNA methylation leaves behind ‘footprints’ in genomes which allows us to infer historical DNA methylation levels and patterns using genomic or transcriptomic data. Empirical measurements of invertebrate DNA methylation has shown a distinct signature compared to vertebrate methylation. Here we use computational methods investigating the said ‘footprints’ as well as methylation-related genes to sample broadly across invertebrate taxa. Our results show that the bimodal distribution of gene body DNA methylation is likely to be the ancestral state in Metazoa, and DNA methylation is absent in a number of invertebrates.