While conventional methylation conversion technologies convert unmethylated cytosine to thymine, Illumina proprietary conversion chemistry selectively converts methylated cytosine to thymine. As the majority of cytosines in a healthy human genome are unmethylated, selective conversion of methylated cytosine produces higher complexity libraries and, when combined with novel informatics, provides comprehensive, cost-effective 5-base insights.
The 5-base assay can replace two separate genetic and epigenetic sequencing assays, saving time and budgets, with minimal incremental sequencing for methylation insights.