[Sperm small non-coding RNAs and intergenerational inheritance].

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have confirmed that, in addition to sperm DNA, environmental exposure factors such as parental diet structure and stress state affect early embryonic development and offspring growth, thus leading to cross-generational inheritance of acquired traits. Many studies also show that environmental stressors can change the expression level of sperm small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs). Furthermore, as the carrier of paternal genetic information transmission and epigenetic marker, sncRNAs are directly or indirectly involved in epigenetic regulation, mediating inter-generational inheritance of acquired traits. This review focuses on the two sncRNAs derived from microRNA (miRNA) and tRNA (tsRNA) in sperm epigenetics research.