Transferring Fragments of Paternal Metabolism to the Offspring

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.02.014
• Publication Date: 2016-03-08T16:45:51Z
• Authors: Erica D. Watson
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Biomedical; Basic Science; Physiology; Contraception/Reproduction; Genetics; 1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine; 2.1 Biological and endogenous factors; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology; Nutrition

Paternal diet influences offspring metabolism, yet the underlying epigenetic mechanisms are unclear. Recently, Chen et al. (2016) and Sharma et al. (2016) identified tRNA fragments in sperm and the male reproductive tract as possible inherited factors altered by paternal diet that lead to gene misexpression and altered metabolism in offspring.