The genetic basis of infertility in men.
Subfertility in men is a heterogeneous syndrome, its pathophysiology remaining unknown in the majority of affected men. A large number of genes and loci are associated with sterility in experimental animals, but the human homologues of most of these genes have not been characterized. A British study suggested that, in a large proportion of men with idiopathic infertility, the disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait; this provocative hypothesis needs confirmation. Because normal germ cell development requires the temporally and spatially co-ordinated expression of a number of gene products at the hypothalamic, pituitary and testicular levels, it is safe to predict that a large number of autosomal, as well as X- and Y-linked, genes will probably be implicated in different subsets of male subfertility.
Bhasin
S
S
UCLA School of Medicine, CA 90059, USA.
Mallidis
C
C
Ma
K
K
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000502:physiology