Endocrine Abstracts

Accurate posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression is essential for the production of good quality spermatozoa. Active cell type-specific transcription, exceptionally diverse transcriptome, and finally, near-to-complete transcriptional silencing during the late steps of spermatogenesis create a high demand for effective RNA regulatory mechanisms. Furthermore, RNAs packed inside spermatozoa can mediate epigenetic inheritance of father’s acquired disorders, therefor...

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Our lifestyle habits and environmental exposures are typically considered to affect only our health (with the exception of pregnant mothers). Nevertheless, there is epidemiological evidence from human studies that adverse health consequences can also be observed in offspring and grand offspring (e.g. Roseboom et al., Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 2001). The mechanisms of trans- or inter-generational epigenetic inheritance are currently not known. We, and other...