Altered non-coding RNA profiles of seminal plasma extracellular vesicles of men with poor semen quality undergoing In Vitro fertilization treatment

EVs are known to contain important cargo of biologically active and regulatory molecules including ncRNAs. EVs in seminal plasma, play an important role in sperm functions , including motility and fertilization. However, less is known about the comprehensive profile of spEV ncRNAs in clinical cohort and if these profiles differ by semen quality status. We assessed sperm-free spEV ncRNA profiles from semen samples of male partners receiving IVF treatment. Men were classified into having normal (n = 59, Status 0) or poor (n = 32, Status 1) semen quality based on WHO semen parameter guidelines. Small RNA-seq reads were mapped to standard biotype-specific transcriptomes in the order miRNA>tRNA>piRNA>rRNA> “other” RNA>circRNA>lncRNA using STAR. Differential expression of normalized ncRNA read counts between groups was conducted by EdgeR (Fold change ≥1.5 & FDR<0.05)