Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Fertility

Beyond maternal exercise: paternal exercise adaptations mediated by sperm microRNA signatures

Nature Reviews Urology (2026)Cite this article

Subjects

Preclinical and clinical evidence shows that maternal exercise can contribute to the cardiometabolic health of offspring. Recent tantalizing findings also point to several paternal factors, notably sperm microRNAs, that can mediate the intergenerational transmission of exercise benefits.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Paternal exercise reprogrammes offspring endurance capacity via sperm microRNAs.

References

  1. One in eight people are now living with obesity. World Health Organization https://go.nature.com/4sWX20i (2024).

  2. Plaza-Florido, A. et al. Exercise pills for cardiometabolic health cannot mimic the exercise milieu. Trends Endocrinol. Metab. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tem.2025.07.005 (2025).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Silva, F. C. D. et al. Effects of physical exercise on the expression of microRNAs: a systematic review. J. Strength Cond. Res. 34, 270–280 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kusuyama, J., Alves-Wagner, A. B., Makarewicz, N. S. & Goodyear, L. J. Effects of maternal and paternal exercise on offspring metabolism. Nat. Metab. 2, 858–872 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Perales, M., Artal, R. & Lucia, A. Exercise during pregnancy. JAMA 317, 1113–1114 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Shi, Y.-Q. et al. Progress on small non-coding RNAs in male reproductive development and intergenerational inheritance. Hereditas 47, 861–875 (2025).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. McPherson, N. O., Owens, J. A., Fullston, T. & Lane, M. Preconception diet or exercise intervention in obese fathers normalizes sperm microRNA profile and metabolic syndrome in female offspring. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 308, E805–E821 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Murashov, A. K. et al. Paternal long-term exercise programs offspring for low energy expenditure and increased risk for obesity in mice. FASEB J. 30, 775–784 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Stanford, K. I. et al. Paternal exercise improves glucose metabolism in adult offspring. Diabetes 67, 2530–2540 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Yin, X. et al. Paternal exercise confers endurance capacity to offspring through sperm microRNAs. Cell Metab. 37, 2167–2184.e8 (2025).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

A.P.-F. is supported by PERC Systems Biology Fund. A.L. is funded by the Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF), as part of the World Cancer Research Fund international grant programme (grant no. IIG_FULL_2021_007). I.P.-P is supported by the grant JDC2024-053872-I, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the FSE+.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Exercise Medicine and Sleep/Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Abel Plaza-Florido

  2. IVIRMA Global Research Alliance, IVI Foundation, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (IIS La Fe), Valencia, Spain

    Inmaculada Pérez-Prieto

  3. Exercise Medicine Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Daniel A. Galvão

  4. School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Daniel A. Galvão

  5. Faculty of Medicine, Health and Sports, Department of Sport Sciences, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Alejandro Lucia

  6. Research Institute of the Hospital 12 de Octubre (imas12), Madrid, Spain

    Alejandro Lucia

Authors
  1. Abel Plaza-Florido
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Inmaculada Pérez-Prieto
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Daniel A. Galvão
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alejandro Lucia
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abel Plaza-Florido.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Plaza-Florido, A., Pérez-Prieto, I., Galvão, D.A. et al. Beyond maternal exercise: paternal exercise adaptations mediated by sperm microRNA signatures. Nat Rev Urol (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-026-01138-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41585-026-01138-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research