Isolation and next generation sequencing of epididymal extracellular vesicles reveals segmental patterns of miRNA expression and a potential mechanism for modification of the sperm epigenome.

ABSTRACT: Interest in the sperm epigenome continues to grow in view of the realization that it is vulnerable to dynamic modifications arising from a variety of paternal environment exposures and that this legacy can serve as an important determinant of intergenerational inheritance. It has been postulated that such exchange may be communicated to maturing populations of spermatozoa via the transfer of small non-coding RNAs in a mechanism involving epididymosomes; small membrane bound vesicles secreted by the soma of the male reproductive tract (epididymis). Herein we confirm that mouse epididymosomes encapsulate an impressive repertoire of >350 microRNA (miRNA), a majority (~60%) of which are also represented in the miRNA signature of maturing spermatozoa. This includes >50 miRNAs that were found exclusively in epididymal sperm and epididymosomes, but not in the surrounding soma, thus supporting the notion that epididymosomes may selectively deliver regulatory non-coding RNA cargo to maturing sperm. Interestingly, we also documented substantial plasticity in terms of the epididymosome-borne miRNAs, including significant fold changes in the relative abundance of almost half of the miRNAs along the length of the epididymis. Finally, we provide the first direct evidence for the transfer of several prominent miRNAs between mouse epididymosomes and spermatozoa, and in so doing afford novel insight into a mechanism of intercellular communication through which the RNA payload of sperm can be modified during their post-testicular development.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE79500 | GEO | 2016/08/25

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA316005

REPOSITORIES: GEO