Cell type heterogeneity presents a challenge to the interpretation of epigenome data, compounded by the difficulty in generating reliable single-cell DNA methylomes for large numbers of cells and samples. We present EPISCORE, a computational algorithm that performs virtual microdissection of bulk tissue DNA methylation data at single cell-type resolution for any solid tissue. EPISCORE applies a probabilistic epigenetic model of gene regulation to a single-cell RNA-seq tissue atlas to generate a tissue-specific DNA methylation reference matrix, allowing quantification of cell-type proportions and cell-type-specific differential methylation signals in bulk tissue data. We validate EPISCORE in multiple epigenome studies and tissue types.
Keywords: DNA methylation; EWAS; Single-cell RNA-Seq.