Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Chua, G. N. L. et al. Differential dynamics specify MeCP2 function at nucleosomes and methylated DNA. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-024-01373-9 (2024).