Fig. 5

Methylation levels of genic-MULEs identified in the O. sativa ssp. japonica genome change over evolutionary time. a The methylation levels of MULE internal sequences with three evolutionary ages (Asian genic-MULEs, AA genic-MULEs, and AB genic-MULEs) in three cytosine contexts (CG context in red, CHG context in blue, and CHH context in green). Methylation levels of MULE internal sequences increase over time in three cytosine contexts (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P < 0.05, except the comparison of AA genic-MULEs and AB genic-MULEs in the CHH context, P = 0.07087). b A sliding window analysis of the average methylation level in 500-bp upstream flanking sequences (yellow), left TIR (green), internal sequence (red), right TIR (purple), and 500-bp downstream flanking sequences (blue) of genic-MULEs with three evolutionary ages in three cytosine contexts. Methylation levels vary across the different regions of MULEs. Methylation levels of the TIR regions in the CHH context decrease over evolutionary time (Wilcoxon rank sum test, P < 0.0501)