Fig. 7. Human tissues also show 5hmC-mediated transcriptional restriction.

A Schematic outline of procedure, age groups, and tissues chosen from the GTEx project. B Metaplots of 5hmC signal from He et al.³¹ over gene bodies of brain-differential and brain-specific genes, C heart-differential and heart-specific genes, and (D) liver-differential and liver-specific genes; statistical significance was assessed using Mann–Whitney U test. E Metaplots of 5hmC signal from Cui et al.³⁰ over gene bodies of brain-differential and brain-specific genes, (F) heart-differential and heart-specific genes, and (G) liver-differential and liver-specific genes; statistical significance was assessed using Mann–Whitney U test. H Model illustrating the transcriptionally restrictive role of 5hmC and its propensity to downregulate tissue-specific functions with increasing age. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. Illustration credit: Endosymbiont GmbH.