ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The clonal transmission of lineage-specific DNA methylation patterns in a mammalian genome during the cellular division is a crucial biological process controlled by the DNA methyltransferase Dnmt1, mainly. To investigate possible dynamic mechanisms of DNA methylation inheritance during the cell cycle, we used a Proximity Ligation In Situ Assay (P-LISA) to analyze the kinetic of formation and DNA recruitment of Dnmt1-including complexes. RESULTS: P-LISA, sequential chromatin immunoprecipitation and quantitative methylation specific PCR revealed that the Dnmt1/PCNA/UHRF1-including complexes are mainly formed and recruited on DNA during the S-phase of cell cycle, while the formation and the DNA recruitment of several Dnmt1/transcription factors-including complexes are not S-phase dependent but are G0/G1 and/or G2/M phases dependent. CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that DNA methylation inheritance occurs in S-phase, and demonstrate that DNA methylation inheritance can also occur in G0/G1 and G2/M phases of the cell cycle.