Fig. 8

DMR identification and prioritisation paradigm. DMRs are defined as consecutive DMPs with the same direction of effect. Available bioinformatic algorithms allow researchers to select the threshold, minimum number and distance between DMPs. We recommend an FDR < 0.05, at least 2–5 consecutive DMPs, and 500–2000 bp between consecutive DMPs. After DMRs have been identified, researchers can prioritise biologically relevant DMRs by ranking them by mean or maximum absolute delta beta (ADB), filtering out DMRs with ADB < 0.02 and identifying major DMRs as those with ADB > 0.05. Major DMRs should be used for downstream functional analyses, while all DMRs with ADB > 0.02 should be used in gene ontology analysis. Abbreviations: DMR = differentially methylated regions, DMP = differentially methylated position, ADB = absolute delta beta