The study by Suhua Feng et al. investigates the conservation and divergence of DNA methylation patterns in eight diverse plant and animal genomes using shotgun genomic bisulfite sequencing (BS-Seq). The authors found that while flowering plants exhibit similar methylation patterns with methylated cytosines in all sequence contexts, animals predominantly show CG methylation. Gene body methylation is conserved across most organisms, with a clear preference for exons. In Ciona and honey bee, genes are the major targets of methylation. The green alga Chlamydomonas has an unusual pattern, with non-CG methylation enriched in exons rather than repeats and transposons. The Dnmt1 cofactor Uhrf1 is conserved in maintaining CG methylation in various organisms, including vertebrates, plants, and fungi. The study highlights the evolution of DNA methylation patterning and function, suggesting that gene body methylation may have an ancient origin.The study by Suhua Feng et al. investigates the conservation and divergence of DNA methylation patterns in eight diverse plant and animal genomes using shotgun genomic bisulfite sequencing (BS-Seq). The authors found that while flowering plants exhibit similar methylation patterns with methylated cytosines in all sequence contexts, animals predominantly show CG methylation. Gene body methylation is conserved across most organisms, with a clear preference for exons. In Ciona and honey bee, genes are the major targets of methylation. The green alga Chlamydomonas has an unusual pattern, with non-CG methylation enriched in exons rather than repeats and transposons. The Dnmt1 cofactor Uhrf1 is conserved in maintaining CG methylation in various organisms, including vertebrates, plants, and fungi. The study highlights the evolution of DNA methylation patterning and function, suggesting that gene body methylation may have an ancient origin.