ABSTRACT
The sperm epigenome is the result of three periods of global resetting during men's lives. The first occurs in the preimplantation embryo, the second in primordial germ cells and the third at spermatogenesis. At the end of these processes, the sperm epigenome has a very specific epigenetic pattern that is a footprint of past reprogramming events, and has a probable influence on early embryo development. Therefore, epigenetic alterations in sperm have been proposed as a cause of male infertility, either because it affects the quality of the seminogram or because it compromises the development of the embryo. In this chapter, we provided strong evidences of the association between variations of the sperm epigenome and male infertility. We have focused the chapter on DNA methylation, programmatic nucleosome retention and chromatin protamination. We have summarized known factors associated with epigenome sperm variations and their effect over male fertility, including ART outcome.
