2020/05/16 by D. Nätt, Daniel Nätt, A. Öst +1 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research #MicroRNA in disease regulation #RNA modifications and cancer
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/joim.13096
openalex publication_date 2020/05/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The world has recently experienced a decline in male reproductive (e.g. sperm counts and motility) and metabolic (e.g. obesity and diabetes) health. Accumulated evidence from animal models also shows that the metabolic health of the father may influence the metabolic health in his offspring. Vectors for such paternal intergenerational metabolic responses (IGMRs) involve small noncoding RNAs (sncRNAs) that often increase in spermatozoa during the last days of maturation in the epididymis. We and others have shown that the metabolic state - depending on factors such as diet, obesity and physical exercise - may affect sperm quality and sperm sncRNA. Together, this suggests that there are overlapping aetiologies between the male metabolic syndrome, male factor infertility and intergenerational responses. In this review, we present a theoretical framework for an overlap of these aetiologies by exploring the advances in our understanding of the roles of sncRNA in spermatogenesis and offspring development. A special focus will lie on novel findings about tRNA-derived small RNA (tsRNA), rRNA-derived small RNA (rsRNA) and small mitochondrial RNA (mitoRNA), and their emerging roles in intergenerational metabolic and reproductive health.