MeDIP
MeDIP stands for methylated DNA immunoprecipitation, a method used to map DNA methylation across genomes by capturing methylated DNA fragments with antibodies against 5-methylcytosine (5mC). Genomic DNA is sheared into fragments, typically a few hundred base pairs in length, then incubated with anti-5mC antibodies to form immune complexes that are captured on protein A/G beads. After washing, the methylated DNA is eluted and analyzed by either MeDIP-chip (microarray) or MeDIP-seq (high-throughput sequencing). The approach yields genome-wide profiles of relative methylation density, with enrichment signals marking methylated regions, but it does not provide single-base resolution and is biased toward CpG-dense regions.
Applications include surveying genome-wide methylation patterns in development, tissue- and disease-specific epigenetics, imprinting, cancer, and comparative
MeDIP is commonly contrasted with bisulfite-based methods that provide single-base resolution and with MBD-based capture approaches.