This was my first reaction as well. Blocking methylation is a drastically global operation for a cell as methylation is involved in so much of the epigenetic regulation. Turning it off probably disabled much of the normal functioning of those cells and could have had all kinds of downstream effects.
It doesn't seem fair to jump to the conclusion that the memory is actually encoded in the methylation pattern somehow. Based on a skim of the paper, the researchers don't seem to claim this either.
It doesn't seem fair to jump to the conclusion that the memory is actually encoded in the methylation pattern somehow. Based on a skim of the paper, the researchers don't seem to claim this either.