Bacmethy: A novel and convenient tool for investigating bacterial DNA methylation pattern and their transcriptional regulation effects

DNA methylation serves as the primary mode of epigenetic regulation in prokaryotes, particularly through transcriptional regulation. With the rapid implementation of third-generation sequencing technology, we are currently experiencing a golden age of bacterial epigenomics. However, there has been a lack of comprehensive research exploring the versatility and consequential impact of bacterial DNA methylome on cellular and physiological functions. There is a critical need for a user-friendly bioinformatics tool that can effectively characterize DNA methylation modification features and predict the regulation patterns. To address this gap, the current study introduces Bacmethy, an innovative tool that utilizes SMRT-seq data and offers a range of analytical modules. First, the tool classifies methylation sites in the genome, highlighting the distinct regulations present under varying modification fractions and location enrichment. Furthermore, this tool enables us to identify regulatory region methylation and potential cis and trans interactions between methylation sites and regulatory effectors. Using benchmark data sets and our data, we show that our tool facilitates the understanding of the distinctive traits of DNA methylation modifications and predicts transcriptional regulation effects on important physiological and pathological functions. Bacmethy code is freely available, and the Docker image is downloadable. Bacmethy has been made available as a user-friendly web server interface at . Bacmethy tool provides a one-stop analysis and visualization pipeline for effectively characterizing bacterial DNA methylation modification features and predicting the regulation patterns. Bacmethy offers both a local run function and an online interface analysis service, providing significant convenience for researchers without coding abilities. Bacmethy provides useful information for decoding the underlying molecular mechanisms of how DNA methylation regulates bacterial cellular and physiological functions. image Bacmethy tool provides a one-stop analysis and visualization pipeline for effectively characterizing bacterial DNA methylation modification features and predicting the regulation patterns. Bacmethy offers both a local run function and an online interface analysis service, providing significant convenience for researchers without coding abilities. Bacmethy provides useful information for decoding the underlying molecular mechanisms of how DNA methylation regulates bacterial cellular and physiological functions.