Fig. 4. Genomic analysis of DNA methylation. The suitability of a given technique of DNA methylation analysis depends on the genome size of the organism and the intended application. Bisulfite conversion coupled to Illumina bead arrays is well suited to the measurement of methylation polymorphism between multiple samples. A comprehensive analysis of methylation in organisms with small genomes can be accomplished with any one of a variety of techniques, whereas enrichment of unmethylated DNA is the preferred method when analyzing most vertebrate genomes.