Refereed journal article or data article (A1)
Testicular "Inherited Metabolic Memory" of Ancestral High-Fat Diet Is Associated with Sperm sncRNA Content
List of Authors: Crisóstomo Luís, Bourgery Matthieu, Rato Luís, Raposo João F., Batterham Rachel L., Kotaja Noora, Alves Marco G.
Publisher: MDPI
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Biomedicines
Journal name in source: BIOMEDICINES
Journal acronym: BIOMEDICINES
Article number: 909
Volume number: 10
Issue number: 4
Number of pages: 17
eISSN: 2227-9059
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10040909
URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/10/4/909
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/175274397
Excessive adiposity caused by high-fat diets (HFDs) is associated with testicular metabolic and functional abnormalities up to grand-offspring, but the mechanisms of this epigenetic inheritance are unclear. Here we describe an association of sperm small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) with testicular "inherited metabolic memory" of ancestral HFD, using a transgenerational rodent model. Male founders were fed a standard chow for 200 days (CTRL), HFD for 200 days (HFD), or standard chow for 60 days followed by HFD for 140 days (HFDt). The male offspring and grand-offspring were fed standard chow for 200 days. The sncRNA sequencing from epidydimal spermatozoa revealed signatures associated with testicular metabolic plasticity in HFD-exposed mice and in the unexposed progeny. Sperm tRNA-derived RNA (tsRNA) and repeat-derived small RNA (repRNA) content were specially affected by HFDt and in the offspring of HFD and HFDt mice. The grand-offspring of HFD and HFDt mice showed lower sperm counts than CTRL descendants, whereas the sperm miRNA content was affected. Although the causality between sperm sncRNAs content and transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of HFD-related traits remains elusive, our results suggest that sperm sncRNA content is influenced by ancestral exposure to HFD, contributing to the sperm epigenome up to the grand-offspring.
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