Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance

It is well accepted that sperm carry an RNA cargo with functions in early embryo development. However, most research has focused on the role of small RNAs, such as microRNAs, transfer RNAs and long non-coding RNAs, while protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) received less attention, even though they...

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Main Authors: Betina González, Candela Rocío González
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2025-03-01
Series:Open Biology
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Online Access:https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240321
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author Betina González
Candela Rocío González
author_facet Betina González
Candela Rocío González
author_sort Betina González
collection DOAJ
description It is well accepted that sperm carry an RNA cargo with functions in early embryo development. However, most research has focused on the role of small RNAs, such as microRNAs, transfer RNAs and long non-coding RNAs, while protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) received less attention, even though they represent a substantial amount of the sperm RNA pool. Here, we curated mouse transcriptomic data from mature sperm and selected the most abundant mRNAs (above the 0.7 quantile). The obtained gene list was further filtered using two criteria: (i) mRNAs that are statistically higher in the one-cell embryo compared to the MII oocyte transcriptome, indicative of paternal mRNA contribution after fertilization; and (ii) mRNAs that are found bound to ribosomes in the one-cell embryo, indicative of positive translation in the zygote translatome. Our analysis identified 94 genes that form networks functionally involved in epigenetic chromatin organization, gene expression, RNA processing and translation during zygote genome activation. These findings underscore the significant role of sperm-borne mRNAs in early embryonic development and epigenetic inheritance, highlighting the need for further research to fully understand their functions.
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spelling doaj-art-dfdb1f01ffd34a7aae28f3e659b50c392025-08-20T03:40:17ZengThe Royal SocietyOpen Biology2046-24412025-03-0115310.1098/rsob.240321Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritanceBetina González0Candela Rocío González1Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaInstituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaIt is well accepted that sperm carry an RNA cargo with functions in early embryo development. However, most research has focused on the role of small RNAs, such as microRNAs, transfer RNAs and long non-coding RNAs, while protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) received less attention, even though they represent a substantial amount of the sperm RNA pool. Here, we curated mouse transcriptomic data from mature sperm and selected the most abundant mRNAs (above the 0.7 quantile). The obtained gene list was further filtered using two criteria: (i) mRNAs that are statistically higher in the one-cell embryo compared to the MII oocyte transcriptome, indicative of paternal mRNA contribution after fertilization; and (ii) mRNAs that are found bound to ribosomes in the one-cell embryo, indicative of positive translation in the zygote translatome. Our analysis identified 94 genes that form networks functionally involved in epigenetic chromatin organization, gene expression, RNA processing and translation during zygote genome activation. These findings underscore the significant role of sperm-borne mRNAs in early embryonic development and epigenetic inheritance, highlighting the need for further research to fully understand their functions.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240321spermmRNAtranscriptomeembryo developmentepigenetic
spellingShingle Betina González
Candela Rocío González
Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
Open Biology
sperm
mRNA
transcriptome
embryo development
epigenetic
title Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
title_full Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
title_fullStr Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
title_full_unstemmed Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
title_short Sperm-borne mRNAs: potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
title_sort sperm borne mrnas potential roles in zygote genome activation and epigenetic inheritance
topic sperm
mRNA
transcriptome
embryo development
epigenetic
url https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsob.240321
work_keys_str_mv AT betinagonzalez spermbornemrnaspotentialrolesinzygotegenomeactivationandepigeneticinheritance
AT candelarociogonzalez spermbornemrnaspotentialrolesinzygotegenomeactivationandepigeneticinheritance