ArticleBMC genomics2023
Optimized bisulfite sequencing analysis reveals the lack of 5-methylcytosine in mammalian mitochondrial DNA.
Article in BMC genomics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epigenetic insights of Olympic champions: nuclear and mitochondrial DNA methylation and regulators of aging.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Preliminary Analysis of CpG, CHG and CHH Methylation in the Mitochondrial Control Region of Dogs With Malignant Mammary Gland Tumours.Animal genetics · 2026Article
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- The potential of methylation signal detection in eDNA toward functional ecological monitoring.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Mitochondria-Targeting microRNAs (mitomiRs): Potential Mediators of Environmental Mitoepigenetics in Mammalian Spermatogenesis.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Mitochondrial DNA methylation: State-of-the-art in molecular mechanisms and disease implications.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Metabolic isotopic labeling of (deoxy)ribose enables dual neutral loss scanning for profiling nucleic acid modifications.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Effective Reduction in Nuclear DNA Contamination Allows Sensitive Mitochondrial DNA Methylation Determination by LC-MS/MS.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Environmental DNA Epigenetics Accurately Predicts the Age of Cultured Fish Larvae.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Whole Genome Methylation Sequencing via Enzymatic Conversion (EM-seq): Protocol, Data Processing, and Analysis.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- MitSorter: a standalone tool for accurate discrimination of mtDNA and NuMT ONT reads based on differential methylation.Bioinformatics advances · 2025Article
- Critical assessment of nanopore sequencing for the detection of multiple forms of DNA modifications.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Chronic stress alters hepatic metabolism and thermodynamic respiratory efficiency affecting epigenetics in C57BL/6 mice.iScience · 2024Article
- Maternal mitochondrial DNA copy number and methylation as possible predictors of pregnancy outcomes in a Michigan pregnancy cohort.Environmental epigenetics · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDNA methylation is one of the best characterized epigenetic modifications in the mammalian nuclear genome and is known to play a significant role in various biological processes. Nonetheless, the presence of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in mitochondrial DNA remains controversial, as data ranging from the lack of 5mC to very extensive 5mC have been reported.
resultsBy conducting comprehensive bioinformatic analyses of both published and our own data, we reveal that previous observations of extensive and strand-biased mtDNA-5mC are likely artifacts due to a combination of factors including inefficient bisulfite conversion, extremely low sequencing reads in the L strand, and interference from nuclear mitochondrial DNA sequences (NUMTs). To reduce false positive mtDNA-5mC signals, we establish an optimized procedure for library preparation and data analysis of bisulfite sequencing. Leveraging our modified workflow, we demonstrate an even distribution of 5mC signals across the mtDNA and an average methylation level ranging from 0.19% to 0.67% in both cell lines and primary cells, which is indistinguishable from the background noise.
conclusionsWe have developed a framework for analyzing mtDNA-5mC through bisulfite sequencing, which enables us to present multiple lines of evidence for the lack of extensive 5mC in mammalian mtDNA. We assert that the data available to date do not support the reported presence of mtDNA-5mC.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.