Cytosine Methylation Affects the Mutability of Neighbouring Nucleotides in Germline and Soma

Methylated cytosines deaminate at higher rates than unmethylated cytosines and the lesions they produce are repaired less efficiently. As a result, methylated cytosines are mutational hotspots. Here, combining rare polymorphism and base-resolution methylation data in human, Arabidopsis thaliana, and rice (Oryza sativa), we present evidence that methylation state affects mutation dynamics not only at the focal cytosine but also at neighbouring nucleotides. In human, contrary to prior suggestions, we find that nucleotides in the close vicinity (±3bp) of methylated cytosines mutate less frequently. Reduced mutability around methylated CpGs is also observed in cancer genomes, considering single nucleotide variants alongside tissue-of-origin-matched methylation data. In contrast, methylation is associated with increased neighbourhood mutation risk in A. thaliana and rice. The difference in neighbourhood mutation risk is less pronounced further away from the focal CpG and modulated by regional GC content. Our results are consistent with a model where altered risk at neighbouring bases is linked to lesion formation at the focal CpG and subsequent long-patch repair. Our findings indicate that cytosine methylation has a broader mutational footprint than is commonly assumed.