On 2013 Nov 01, Stephen Turner commented:

Epigenetic modification has critical roles in bacteria other than involvement in restriction modification, including regulation of replication, transcription, and virulence. Bisulfite treatment enables the detection of 5-methylcytosine residues, but other epigenetic modifications can't be detected in high-throughput using current sequencing technologies. Recent advances in single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing (PacBio technology) enable the ability to probe epigenetic modification to any nucleotide based on analyzing kinetic variation - the variation in the rate that DNA polymerase incorporates bases into DNA during synthesis (Schadt EE, 2013). Here, the researchers use this advanced SMRT technology to systematically probe both 5-methylcytosine and 6-methyladenine (m6A) residues in a pathogenic Escherichia coli strain on a genome-wide scale. The researchers then deduce target sites for methyltransferases that catalyze m6A modifications, based solely on the kinetic variation data. The researchers finally show that methyltransferases have additional functionality outside restriction modification systems, including controlling bacterial gene expression and DNA replication.

On 2013 Nov 01, Stephen Turner commented:

Epigenetic modification has critical roles in bacteria other than involvement in restriction modification, including regulation of replication, transcription, and virulence. Bisulfite treatment enables the detection of 5-methylcytosine residues, but other epigenetic modifications can't be detected in high-throughput using current sequencing technologies. Recent advances in single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing (PacBio technology) enable the ability to probe epigenetic modification to any nucleotide based on analyzing kinetic variation - the variation in the rate that DNA polymerase incorporates bases into DNA during synthesis (Schadt EE, 2013). Here, the researchers use this advanced SMRT technology to systematically probe both 5-methylcytosine and 6-methyladenine (m6A) residues in a pathogenic Escherichia coli strain on a genome-wide scale. The researchers then deduce target sites for methyltransferases that catalyze m6A modifications, based solely on the kinetic variation data. The researchers finally show that methyltransferases have additional functionality outside restriction modification systems, including controlling bacterial gene expression and DNA replication.