Transgenerational transmission mediated by small non-coding RNA in sperm / 中华男科学杂志

ABSTRACT

The presence of RNA has been confirmed in mature human sperm and plays an important role in altering the early events of embryos. Increasing evidence indicates that the expression of small non-coding RNAs can be changed by environmental exposures such as the structure of paternal diet and the status of stress. As the carriers of paternal information and epigenetic markers, small non-coding RNAs can alter the development of early embryos and offspring and mediate transgenerational transmission, which offers a new target for the studies of the epigenetics of sperm. Sperm piRNA, microRNA and tRNA, which are widely present in male germ cells, can mediate transgenerational transmission via related regulation mechanisms. This review introduces some new findings about the transgenerational epigenetics concerning the three small non-coding RNAs in sperm and offers a novel insight into male reproduction.