Positive selective sweeps of epigenetic mutations regulating specialized metabolites in plants.

DNA methylation is an important factor regulating gene expression in organisms. However, whether DNA methylation plays a key role in adaptive evolution is unknown. Here, we show evidence of naturally selected DNA methylation in In comparison with single nucleotide polymorphisms, three types of methylation-methylated CGs (mCGs), mCHGs, and mCHHs-contributed highly to variable gene expression levels among an population. Such variably expressed genes largely affect a large variation of specialized metabolic quantities. Among the three types of methylations, only mCGs located in promoter regions of genes associated with specialized metabolites show a selective sweep signature in the population. Thus, naturally selected mCGs appear to be key mutations that cause the expressional diversity associated with specialized metabolites during plant evolution.