Improvements in the technology used to assess animal and plant epigenetic modifications, particularly in genome-wide studies, such as methylome and transcriptome analysis, have revealed new information on the function of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) modification and its regulatory roles. DNA methylation is a biological process that involves the addition of methyl groups to the DNA molecule, which can modify a DNA segment's activity without changing its sequence. When DNA methylation occurs at the promoter of a gene, it usually suppresses gene transcription. The use of DNA methylation in experiments such as gene expression, histone modification, transcription factor binding, open/closing chromatin, and TE silencing has greatly aided our understanding of the roles of genomic 5mC in normal plant growth and development, as well as responses to various environmental stresses.

These investigations have uncovered a burgeoning number of different and context-dependent effects of DNA methylation. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of DNA methylation and demethylation plays essential roles, such as genome stability, ON/OFF gene expression according to developmental stages, and responses to environmental conditions. The revelation of transgenerational DNA methylation adds to the growing evidence that environment-induced changes in exposed generations can influence the phenotypes of subsequent generations and hence contribute to evolution.

This Special Issue aims to deal with the developmental or environmental response of DNA methylation, both in model plants and crop plants. We invite research articles on any of the frontiers of DNA methylation research for this Special Issue. We welcome both original research and review articles.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• DNA methylation
• DNA methylation and gene expression
• DNA methylation and plant growth and development
• DNA methylation and environmental stress
• Differentially methylated regions (DMRs)
• DNA methylation and transposable elements
• DNA methylation and evolution