5-Methylcytosine is a methylated nucleotide base found in eukaryotic DNA. In animals, the DNA methylation of cytosine to form 5-methylcytosine is found primarily in the palindromic sequence CpG. In plants, the methylated sequence is CpNpGp, where N can be any base. -- Pubchem; 5-Methylcytosine is a methylated form of cytosine in which a methyl group is attached to carbon 5, altering its structure without altering its base-pairing properties. -- Wikipedia; 5-Methylcytosine is an epigenetic modification formed by the action of DNA methyltransferases. In bacteria, 5-methylcytosine can be found at a variety of sites, and is often used as a marker to protect DNA from being cut by native methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes. In plants, 5-methylcytosine occurs at both CpG and CpNpG sequences. In fungi and animals, 5-methylcytosine predominately occurs at CpG dinucleotides. Although most eukaryotes methylate only a small percentage of these sites, in vertebrates 70-80% of CpG cytosines are methylated. -- Wikipedia.