5-Methylcytosine

5-Methylcytosine (mC) is the sole methylated base found in eukaryotic DNA. In animals, methylation is found primarily in C residues that are immediately 5' to G residues (that is, in a sequence CpG). When such a C is methylated, so is the corresponding C in the complementary strand. In plant DNA, the methylated sequence is CpNpGp, where N can be any base.

See also: DNA Methylation, Cytosine, Prokaryotic Mismatch Repair