Fig. 4

DMC types and locations in the DMRs of the target genes. DMC, a cytosine differentially methylated between the heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive coisogenic rice strains; DMR, a DNA region < 100 bp long with a GC content of > 30%, where > 60% of all cytosines in the region were DMCs and at least 15 successive DMCs exhibited identical patterns of consistent methylation or demethylation; HTS and HSS, heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive strain, respectively. Dots along the horizontal axes represent cytosines. Type I DMCs (in red) were methylated by HNTs in the heat-tolerant rice strain XN0437T, but the corresponding cytosine in the heat-sensitive rice strain XN0437S was either unchanged or demethylated after HNT. Type II DMCs (in blue) were demethylated by HNTs in XN0437T, but the corresponding cytosine in XN0437S was either unchanged or methylated after HNT. Type III DMCs (in green) were unchanged by HNT in XN0437T, but the corresponding cytosine in XN0437S was either methylated or demethylated after HNT. Vertical bars extending above the horizontal axes represent cytosines that were methylated by HNTs, while vertical bars extending below the horizontal axes represent cytosines that were demethylated by HNTs. Red, blue, and green dashed-line boxes indicate respectively the type I, II, and III DMRs in the target genes