Amplification of intermethylated sites experimental design and results analysis with AIMS in silico computer software

Amplification of intermethylated sites (AIMS) is a powerful tool for differential methylation screening of genomes. Its applications have nevertheless been limited until recently for the absence of systemic approach to AIMS experimental design and of appropriate computer software for the analysis of AIMS results. We have developed AIMS in silico computer suggestion tool capable of predicting possible experimental outcomes, which assists in designing AIMS experiments depending on the research aims and available instrumentation, and in analyzing experimental results from the point of view of genomic locations of the DNA fragments under study. With AIMS in silico we have characterized qualitatively and quantitatively AIMS products obtainable under different conditions; to ease experimental design we demonstrate AIMS products hierarchical structure. We discuss examples of designing AIMS experiments and of results analysis as well as possible relative to AIMS alternative approaches to differential methylation screening. AIMS in silico computer software is intended to standardize AIMS applications and to turn it into one of the principal approaches towards cancer epigenomes studies as well as towards diagnostics in oncology, including early screening.