精子sncRNAs在环境暴露相关跨代遗传中的作用

The Influence of Environmental Factors on Transgenerational Transmission Mediated by Sperm sncRNAs

哺乳动物胚胎发育受遗传和表观遗传的共同调控。精子作为重要的雄性生殖细胞,通过受精过程,将这些信息传递给卵子,进而影响子代的发育。精子中携带有丰富的表观遗传信息,其中小非编码RNAs(small noncoding RNAs,sncRNAs)在精子发育不同阶段发挥重要的作用,包括调控基因表达、介导蛋白质翻译,以及参与精子的表观遗传信息传递等。环境暴露包括饮食变化、毒性物质暴露和心理压力等。现有的研究表明,环境因素不仅影响机体健康,还可能导致生殖系统配子(精子与/或卵子)表观遗传信息的改变。越来越多的证据表明,亲本在环境暴露后发生的获得性性状变化,可通过配子的表观遗传信息传递给后代,即产生跨代遗传。本综述主要讨论因环境因素引起的获得性性状,可通过精子sncRNAs变化,产生跨代遗传,并影响胚胎发育及子代健康。本综述的讨论主要集中在tRNA来源的小RNAs(transfer RNA-derived small RNAs,tsRNAs)、微RNA(microRNAs,miRNAs)和PIWI相互作用RNAs(PIWI-interacting RNAs,piRNAs),并涉及到最近在精子中发现有大量表达的rRNA来源的小RNAs(risbosome-RNA derived small RNAs,rsRNAs)。此外,本文还进一步探讨了环境因素影响精子sncRNAs表达变化的可能机制。通过对上述内容的综述,将更好地理解精子sncRNAs在跨代遗传中的作用,促进表观遗传学领域的新研究,加深对基本生命过程的理解。

Developmental programming of the embryo is controlled by both genetic information and epigenetic information.During fertilization,this information carried by sperms can be delivered to the zygote,where they can regulate early embryonic development.Mature sperms are highly abundant in epigenetic information,and including small non-coding RNAs(sncRNAs),which play important roles during spermatogenesis,fertilization,and early embryo development.Recent studies revealed that sncRNAs can regulate gene expression,mediate protein translation,transmit the epigenetic information,and so on.Recently,increasing evidences showed that parental environment exposure,such as diet,toxicant,pressure,may cause the inheritance of acquired characteristics,and they can be stored and transmitted to the next generation by epigenetic information in germ cells.Recent advances of transgenerational inheritance revealed that sncRNAs are environmentally responsive epigenetic molecules in sperms.This review summarized current knowledge about the sncRNAs information in sperms,including transfer RNA-derived small RNAs(tsRNAs),rsRNAs(risbosome-RNA derived small RNAs),microRNAs(miRNAs)and PIWI-interacting RNAs(piRNAs),that are responsive to environmental factors and are capable of affecting embryonic development and the phenotype of the offspring later in life.Furthermore,this review also delineated potential molecular mechanisms that might regulate sperm sncRNAs.