Methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) kits enable antibody-based enrichment of 5-methylcytosine-containing DNA fragments for epigenomic analysis. These kits provide standardized protocols for selective isolation of methylated regions from fragmented genomic DNA, supporting downstream qPCR, microarray, or sequencing applications.
Core Principles
MeDIP exploits the high affinity of monoclonal antibodies for 5-methylcytosine in single-stranded DNA. The method preferentially enriches densely methylated sequences (5–10+ CpGs per fragment), providing genome-wide coverage with ~300 bp resolution.
Workflow Overview (3–4 hours total)
- DNA fragmentation to 200–500 bp
- Heat denaturation to single strands
- Antibody binding under optimized salt conditions
- Magnetic bead capture and stringent washing
- Elution and protein digestion
- Purified methylated DNA fraction
Applications
- Promoter Analysis: Identifies hypermethylated tumor suppressor genes and hypomethylated oncogenes.
- DMR Mapping: Defines differentially methylated regions between cell types, developmental stages, or disease states.
- Epigenome-wide Profiling: Pre-enrichment step prior to MeDIP-seq (30M reads yields ~80% genome coverage at promoters).
- Biomarker Discovery: Screens cfDNA for cancer-specific methylation signatures.
- Developmental Epigenetics: Tracks lineage-specific methylation during differentiation.
