Novel transcriptome data analysis implicates circulating microRNAs in epigenetic inheritance in mammals

• Dysregulated miRNAs in epigenetic inheritance in mammals enrich circulating miRNAs.
• Dysregulated mRNAs' miRNA targets also enrich circulating miRNAs.
• The circulating miRNAs are associated with epigenetic processes.
• Results support a role of circulating miRNAs in epigenetic inheritance in mammals.

Experimental evidence supports a role of mobile small non-coding RNAs in mediating soma to germline hereditary information transfer in epigenetic inheritance in plants and worms. Similar evidence in mammals has not been reported so far. In this bioinformatic analysis, differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) or mRNAs reported previously in genome level expression profiling studies related to or relevant in epigenetic inheritance in mammals were examined for circulating miRNA association. The reported sets of differentially expressed miRNAs or miRNAs that are known to target the reported sets of differentially expressed genes, in that order, showed enrichment of circulating miRNAs across environmental factors, tissues, life cycle stages, generations, genders and species. Circulating miRNAs commonly representing the expression profiles enriched various epigenetic processes. These results provide bioinformatic evidence for a role of circulating miRNAs in epigenetic inheritance in mammals.