Challenges in Understanding Genome-Wide DNA Methylation

DNA methylation is a chemical modification of the bases in genomes. This modification, most frequently found at CpG dinucleotides in eukaryotes, has been identified as having multiple critical functions in broad and diverse species of animals and plants, while mysteriously appears to be lacking from several other well-studied species. DNA methylation has well known and important roles in genome stability and defense, its pattern change highly correlates with gene regulation. Much evidence has linked abnorma...