title: Production of fertile offspring from genetically infertile male mice.
abstract: A number of recessive autosomal genes cause male infertility. Male mice homozygous for the blind-sterile (bs/bs) and quaking-sterile (qk/qk) gene mutations are sterile, because they either do not produce any spermatozoa or produce only a few abnormal spermatozoa. Mice lacking the cyclic AMP responsive-element modulator gene are sterile due to failure of spermiogenesis. All these mice, however, are able to produce fertile offspring when their spermatozoa or round spermatids are injected into oocytes of normal females. This implies that genetic and epigenetic elements necessary for syngamy and embryonic development are established in round spermatids and spermatozoa of these animals, even though their spermatogenic cells are destined to die (bs/bs and qk/qk) or are programmed to undergo apoptosis (cyclic AMP responsive-element modulator-null) without becoming functional spermatozoa.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biogenesis Research, Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, University of Hawaii Medical School, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. yana@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Ryuzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yanagimachi
authors.forename: Teruhiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakayama
authors.forename: Hidefumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kishikawa
authors.forename: Gian Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Fimia
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sassone-Corsi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011247:Pregnancy; D020554:Sperm Injections, Intracytoplasmic; D013087:Spermatids / Q000166:cytology