AUTHOR=Franzago Marica , Sabovic Iva , Franchi Sara , De Santo Maria , Di Nisio Andrea , Luddi Alice , Piomboni Paola , Vitacolonna Ester , Stuppia Liborio , Foresta Carlo 

TITLE=Sperm DNA Methylation at Metabolism-Related Genes in Vegan Subjects

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.633943

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2021.633943

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>To investigate if epigenome of sperm cells could be dynamically affected by nutrition.</p></sec><sec><title>Design and Methods</title><p>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 (<italic>FTO</italic>) and melanocortin-4 receptor (<italic>MC4R</italic>) from six vegans and 34 omnivores. In addition, the <italic>FTO</italic> rs9939609 (T&gt;A) was genotyped.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Higher DNA methylation levels were detected in the sperm of vegan at <italic>FTO</italic> gene CpG1 (p=0.02), CpG2 (p=0.001), CpG3 (p=0.004), and CpG4 (p=0.003) sites and at <italic>MC4R</italic>-CpG2 site [p=0.016] as compared to sperm of omnivores. This association was not related to <italic>FTO</italic> genotype.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>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.</p></sec>