In early online publication, scientists found that in Arabidopsis thaliana, regions of DNA methylation are deficient in histone variant H2A.Z. Mutation of the MET1 DNA methyltransferase, which causes both losses and gains of DNA methylation, leads to opposite changes in H2A.Z deposition, whereas mutation of the PIE1 subunit of the Swr1 complex that deposits H2A.Z leads to genome-wide hypermethylation.