Plant genomic DNA methylation was analyzed by an improved SssI methyltransferase assay and by genomic sequencing with sodium bisulfite. Kanamycin, hygromycin, and cefotaxime (also called Claforan) are commonly used as selective agents for the production of transgenic plants. These antibiotics caused DNA hypermethylation in tobacco plants grown in vitro, which was both time- and dose-dependent. An exposure of the plantlets to 500 mg/liter cefotaxime for 1 month caused the de novo methylation of 3 x 10(7) CpG sites/haploid genome of 3.5 x 10(9) base pairs. It occurred in high, moderate, and low repetitive DNA and was not reversible upon the removal of the antibiotics. Reversion was only observed in progeny grown in the absence of drugs. Analysis of the promoter regions of two single-copy genes, an auxin-binding protein gene and the class I chitinase gene, showed the hypermethylation to be heterogeneous but biased toward CpGs. The hypermethylation of the class I chitinase and the auxin-binding protein promoters was not a consequence of a drug-induced gene amplification.