Hypermethylated genes following Alkbh5 knock-down were associated through KEGG pathway analysis with immunity- and infection-related terms (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and viral myocarditis), as well as genes involved in cell adhesion, NOD-like receptor signaling and calcium signaling pathways (Fig. 3D). Here, ALKBH5 is linked to staphylococcus aureus infection.