Donkin et al. propose that dynamic changes in the epigenome of human spermatozoa in response to the environment may underlie the heritability of obesity. Micrococcal nuclease sequencing (MNase-seq), small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) sequencing and reduced-representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) were used to characterize nucleosome positioning, sncRNA expression, and DNA methylation, respectively, in spermatozoa from 13 lean, glucose-tolerant and 10 obese, glucose-intolerant men. These approaches yielded a comprehensive epigenomic profile specific to obesity; sncRNA expression and DNA methylation patterns differed substantially between lean and obese men. In a separate cohort of men with morbid obesity, weight loss (resulting from bariatric surgery) led to marked remodelling of the obesity-associated DNA methylation pattern of spermatozoa. DNA methylation was affected mainly in genetic loci that have previously been implicated in the central control of appetite.
References
Donkin, I. et al. Obesity and bariatric surgery drive epigenetic variation of spermatozoa in humans. Cell Metab. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.11.004 (2015)
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Koch, L. Sperm as obesity propagator?. Nat Rev Genet 17, 6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg.2015.19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg.2015.19