Exosomes in human semen carry a distinctive repertoire of small non-coding RNAs with potential regulatory functions
University of Washington · Seattle University · +1 more institution
Abstract
Semen contains relatively ill-defined regulatory components that likely aid fertilization, but which could also interfere with defense against infection. Each ejaculate contains trillions of exosomes, membrane-enclosed subcellular microvesicles, which have immunosuppressive effects on cells important in the genital mucosa. Exosomes in general are believed to mediate inter-cellular communication, possibly by transferring small RNA molecules. We found that seminal exosome (SE) preparations contain a substantial amount of RNA from 20 to 100 nucleotides (nts) in length. We sequenced 20-40 and 40-100 nt fractions of SE RNA separately from six semen donors. We found various classes of small non-coding RNA, including…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 17.78
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 109
Authors
11Topics & keywords
- Biology
- Microvesicles
- RNA
- Small RNA
- microRNA
- Exosome
- Transfer RNA
- Non-coding RNA