Short-term diet intervention comprising of olive oil, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids alters the small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) landscape of human sperm

Short-term diet intervention comprising of olive oil, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids alters the small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) landscape of human sperm

Scientific Reports

10.1038/s41598-024-83653-4

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83653-4

Candida Vaz, Mark Burton, Alexandra J. Kermack, Pei Fang Tan, Jason Huan, Tessa P. X. Yoo, Kerry Donnelly, Susan J. Wellstead, Dennis Wang, Helena L. Fisk, Franchesca D. Houghton, Sheena Lewis, Yap Seng Chong, Peter D. Gluckman, Ying Cheong, Nicholas S. Macklon, Philip C. Calder, Anindya Dutta, Keith M. Godfrey, Pankaj Kumar, Karen A. Lillycrop, Neerja Karnani

Genetics and Molecular Biology

05 March 2025

Vaz, C., Burton, M., Kermack, A. J., Tan, P. F., Huan, J., Yoo, T. P. X., Donnelly, K., Wellstead, S. J., Wang, D., Fisk, H. L., Houghton, F. D., Lewis, S., Chong, Y. S., Gluckman, P. D., Cheong, Y., Macklon, N. S., Calder, P. C., Dutta, A., Godfrey, K. M., … Karnani, N. (2025). Short-term diet intervention comprising of olive oil, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids alters the small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) landscape of human sperm. Scientific Reports, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83653-4

Offspring health outcomes are often linked with epigenetic alterations triggered by maternal nutrition and intrauterine environment. Strong experimental data also link paternal preconception nutrition with pathophysiology in the offspring, but the mechanism(s) routing effects of paternal exposures remain elusive. Animal experimental models have highlighted small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) as potential regulators of paternal effects. Here, we characterised the baseline sncRNA landscape of human sperm and the effect of a 6-week dietary intervention on their expression profile. This study involves sncRNAseq profiling, that was performed on a subset (n = 17) of the participants enrolled in the PREPARE trial: 9 from the control group and 8 from the intervention group. 5’tRFs, miRNAs and piRNAs were the most abundant sncRNA subtypes identified; their expression was associated with age, BMI, and sperm quality. Nutritional intervention with olive oil, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids altered expression of 3 tRFs, 15 miRNAs and 112 piRNAs, targeting genes involved in fatty acid metabolism and transposable elements in the sperm genome.

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science Technology and Research - Strategic Positioning Fund (SPF 002/2013)
Grant Reference no. : NA

This research / project is supported by the Agency for Science Technology and Research - Industry Alignment Fund - Pre-Positioning (H17/01/a0/005)
Grant Reference no. : H17/01/a0/005

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https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/21672

2045-2322

Institute for Human Development and Potential

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-83653-4