title: Large translocation t(3q-;4p+) as probable cause for semisterility.
abstract: A couple with one phenotypically normal son and two recorded abortions complained of apparent inability to have more children. The father, and also his son, proved to be carriers of the translocation t(3q-;4p+). Almost certainly, the length of the translocated segment, practically the whole 3q, would cause either translocation chromosome by itself to lead to prenatal death. Furthermore, the fertility of the carrier father may be considerably decreased if in a sufficient number of spermatocytes the meiotic orientation of the chain or, less probably, the ring formed by 3, 3q-,4p+, and 4 is such that the two 3-centromeres go to one pole and the two 4-centromeres to the other, not to mention an even more abnormal 1:3 segregation.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics*; D007621:Karyotyping; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D014178:Translocation, Genetic