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DNA methylation is considered to be a relatively stable epigenetic mark. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that DNA methylation levels can change rapidly; for example, in innate immune cells facing an infectious agent. Nevertheless, the causal relationship between changes in DNA methylation and gene expression during infection remains to be elucidated. Here, we generated time-course data on DNA methylation, gene expression, and chromatin accessibility patterns during infection of human dendritic cells with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We found that the immune response to infection is accompanied by active demethylation of thousands of CpG sites overlapping distal enhancer elements. However, virtually all changes in gene expression in response to infection occur before detectable changes in DNA methylation, indicating that the observed losses in methylation are a downstream …