Department of Medicine and Aging, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, "G. D'Annunzio" University, Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
Center for Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), "G. D'Annunzio" University, Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Mar 9;12:633943. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.633943. eCollection 2021.
To investigate if epigenome of sperm cells could be dynamically affected by nutrition.
We assessed 40 healthy volunteers with different dietary habits and collected their demographic characteristics, as well as clinical and anthropometric parameters. We compared methylation profiles in sperm quantified by bisulfite pyrosequencing, at promoter-associated CpG sites of genes involved in metabolism including fat mass and obesity-associated () and melanocortin-4 receptor () from six vegans and 34 omnivores. In addition, the rs9939609 (T>A) was genotyped.
Higher DNA methylation levels were detected in the sperm of vegan at gene CpG1 (p=0.02), CpG2 (p=0.001), CpG3 (p=0.004), and CpG4 (p=0.003) sites and at -CpG2 site [p=0.016] as compared to sperm of omnivores. This association was not related to genotype.
Although limited by the small number of investigated cases, our data provide insight into the role of diet on sperm DNA methylation in genes involved in metabolism.
探究精子细胞的表观基因组是否会受到营养的动态影响。
我们评估了 40 名具有不同饮食习惯的健康志愿者，并收集了他们的人口统计学特征、临床和人体测量学参数。我们比较了来自 6 名素食者和 34 名杂食者的精子中通过亚硫酸氢盐焦磷酸测序定量的代谢相关基因（包括脂肪量和肥胖相关基因 () 和黑素皮质素 4 受体 ()）启动子相关 CpG 位点的甲基化谱。此外，还对 rs9939609(T>A) 进行了基因分型。
与杂食者的精子相比，素食者精子中 基因 CpG1（p=0.02）、CpG2（p=0.001）、CpG3（p=0.004）和 CpG4（p=0.003）位点以及 -CpG2 位点的 DNA 甲基化水平更高（p=0.016）。这种关联与 基因型无关。
尽管受调查病例数量有限的限制，但我们的数据提供了关于饮食对代谢相关基因精子 DNA 甲基化影响的见解。
