ИСТИНА

In our study, aging was associated with significant changes in sperm DNA methylation and sncRNAs including increase in methylation of over 5,000 DNA regions, age-dependent decrease of rRNA and lncRNA and increases in tRNA and miRNA (Fig. 2). Changes in expression of individual sperm sncRNA (miRNA and piRNA) were enriched for 4,950 genes associated with developmental and metabolic process. Similarly, 3,066 genes associated with age-dependent DMRs were enriched for embryonic development. Both lists overlapped significantly (1,052 genes) suggesting synergy between age-dependent changes in different epigenetic mechanisms in sperm. Perinatal exposure to environmentally relevant doses of BDE-47 accelerates age dependent epigenetic changes in younger animals and decelerates these changes in older animals. Future research is needed to identify the mechanisms involved in age-dependent changes in sperm epigenome as well as the downstream effects on the health and development of future progeny. This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (#14-45-00065 and #18-15-00202).