The sequence of the CpG island region and the position of each of the 71 CpG residues studied are shown in Figure 1 while the average methylation ratio for each sex at each residue is depicted in Figure 2. Due to the inability of the mass spectroscopy technique to differentiate certain peaks, the methylation scores for CpG residues 1–2, 9–11, 14–15, 16–17, 18–19, 21–23, 24–25, 28–29, 30–33, 34–39, 40–41, 42–43, 46–52, 53–54, 55–56, 57–61, 63–64, and 66–67 are reported as averaged aggregates (the order of the 71 CpG residues is specified in Figure 1). In addition, because their mass spectroscopy peaks could not be de-convoluted, CpG 16–17, 24–25 and 27; CpG 45 and 65; and CpG 66–67 and 69 have identical values. As Figure 2 illustrates, the methylation ratio increased from left to right (i.e., from CpG 1 to CpG 71) with a peak in methylation being noted near the transcription start site of exon 1. In addition, at all points surveyed, females tended to have a higher amount of methylation with the overall average methylation ratio being significantly higher
