Fig. 3

Comparison of three categories of regions with extreme methylation variation in sperm. a Standard deviation (SD) vs. mean sperm DNA methylation of all methylation haplotype blocks (MHBs), and distribution of highly variable methylated regions (HVMRs), hypomethylated conserved regions (Hypo-CMRs) and hypermethylated conserved regions (Hyper-CMRs). b Average methylation levels of HVMR, Hypo-CMRs and Hyper-CMRs in 16 somatic tissues. c Average expression levels (FPKM value) of genes associated with HVMR, Hypo-CMRs and Hyper-CMRs in 91 tissues and cell types. d Enrichments of three categories of expression QTL in HVMR, Hypo-CMRs and Hyper-CMRs (eeQTL: exon expression QTLs; geQTL: gene expression QTLs; sQTL: splicing QTLs; these expression QTLs were detected from dairy cattle blood and milk cells, liver and muscle [28]). e Enrichments of selection signatures differentiating dairy and beef cattle breeds [30] in HVMR, Hypo-CMRs and Hyper-CMRs