Project at a glance

Paternal contribution to embryo development through non-coding RNAs

In sexual reproduction, sperm was thought to deliver little more than the paternal genome to the oocyte to form the zygote. However, examples in worms, flies, mice, and humans support an alternative view. Small non-coding (ncRNAs), which fine-tune the expression of genes without modifying their DNA sequences, have been proposed to transmit paternal information to the offspring, shaping their development and phenotypic traits.

We are interested in the paternal contribution of PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) to early mouse embryogenesis. Extraordinarily abundant in the adult male germline, these small ncRNAs play a vital role in male fertility, spermatogenesis, and the function of mature sperm. Our lab aims to understand the mechanism underlying the intergenerational role of paternal piRNAs and gain insight into how fathers impact the offspring through epigenetic mechanisms.