The relationship between Y chromosome DNA haplotypes and Y chromosome deletions leading to male infertility.
Microdeletions on the short arm of the Y chromosome have defined three non-overlapping regions (AZFa, b, c) recurrently deleted among infertile males. These regions contain several genes or gene families involved in male germ-cell development and maintenance. Even though a meiotic origin for these microdeletions is assumed, the mechanisms and causes leading to microdeletion formation are largely unknown. In order to assess whether some Y chromosome groups (or haplogroups) are predisposed to, or protected against, deletion formation during male meiosis, we have defined and compared Y chromosome haplogroup distribution in a group of infertile/subfertile males harbouring Yq deletions and in a relevant Northwestern European control population. Our analyses suggest that Y chromosome deletion formation is, at least in the study populations, a stochastic event independent of the Y chromosome background on which they arise and may be caused by other genetic and/or environmental factors.
Quintana-Murci
L
L
Unité d'Immunogénétique Humaine INSERM E021, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Krausz
C
C
Heyer
E
E
Gromoll
J
J
Seifer
I
I
Barton
D E
DE
Barrett
T
T
Skakkebaek
N E
NE
Rajpert-De Meyts
E
E
Mitchell
M
M
Lee
A C
AC
Jobling
M A
MA
McElreavey
K
K
D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D014998:Y Chromosome