Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

EPIGENETICS

Human sperm RNA code senses dietary sugar

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 16, pages 200–201 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

A new study reveals that a high-sugar diet acutely alters human sperm small RNA profiles after 1 week and that these changes are associated with changes in sperm motility. This rapid response by sperm to nutritional fluctuation raises intriguing questions regarding the underlying mechanisms and the potential effects on offspring metabolic health.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Potential modulation of sperm by high-sugar diet.

References

  1. Zhang, Y., Shi, J., Rassoulzadegan, M., Tuorto, F. & Chen, Q. Sperm RNA code programmes the metabolic health of offspring. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 15, 489–498 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chen, Q. et al. Sperm tsRNAs contribute to intergenerational inheritance of an acquired metabolic disorder. Science 351, 397–400 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, Y. et al. Dnmt2 mediates intergenerational transmission of paternally acquired metabolic disorders through sperm small non-coding RNAs. Nat. Cell Biol. 20, 535–5402 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sharma, U. et al. Biogenesis and function of tRNA fragments during sperm maturation and fertilization in mammals. Science 351, 391–396 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Nätt, D. et al. Human sperm displays rapid responses to diet. PLoS Biol. 17, e3000559 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Schimmel, P. The emerging complexity of the tRNA world: mammalian tRNAs beyond protein synthesis. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 19, 45–58 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Brownlee, M. The pathobiology of diabetic complications: a unifying mechanism. Diabetes 54, 1615–1625 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Thompson, D. M. & Parker, R. Stressing out over tRNA cleavage. Cell 138, 215–219 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hayakawa, H. et al. Binding capacity of human YB-1 protein for RNA containing 8-oxoguanine. Biochemistry 41, 12739–12744 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Donkin, I. et al. Obesity and bariatric surgery drive epigenetic variation of spermatozoa in humans. Cell. Metab. 23, 369–378 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Xudong Zhang for discussion. Y.Z. is supported by MOST (2019YFA0802600 and 2018YFC1004500) and Q.C. is supported by NIH (R01HD092431).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell & Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Ying Zhang

  2. Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Ying Zhang

  3. Division of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA

    Qi Chen

Authors
  1. Ying Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qi Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Ying Zhang or Qi Chen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, Y., Chen, Q. Human sperm RNA code senses dietary sugar. Nat Rev Endocrinol 16, 200–201 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-020-0331-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-020-0331-2

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing