Molecular genetics of male infertility: A mini-review

Abstract

Male infertility is a multifactorial condition characterized by the inability of the male to cause pregnancy in a clinically fertile female. Semen quality parameters are used to assess fertility of men and it is an indicative of genetic disorders. Male infertility is mainly influenced by spermatogenic qualitative or quantitative anomalies, ductal obstruction and hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction. Here, we review the molecular genetic basis of male infertility through X and Y chromosomes anomalies and genetic polymorphisms. Several X chromosome linked genes, such as AKAP4 and TGIF2LX, affect the ability of a man to have children. Microdeletions in Y chromosome accounts for a large amount of male infertility cases, and the AZF gene is one of the most important and investigated Y chromosome genes related to infertility. Moreover, clinical studies and biomarker research are able to provide a molecular genetic panel to answer questions and shed different perspectives to a better understanding of the male infertility leading causes.

Genetic Profiling of CYP19 Gene Haplotype in Holstein Bulls

“…In Iraq the livestock production is an important part of the national economy, however, this part of the economy suffers from many problems (1) , these problems caused a huge decrease in the level of production that does not meet the food market needs of meat, milk, and derivatives, for many reasons, including climatic conditions, as well as the absence of scientific programs organized to elect animals with high production capacity (2) , climatic changes significantly led to higher temperatures, which negatively affected the fertility of farm animals, especially the effect on the quality of semen in bulls (3) , that non-fertile bulls can cost producers large sums of money without any economic return (4) . On the other hand, the molecular genetics techniques contributed to the diagnosis and treatment of infertility (5) , via studying some of the molecular mechanisms that directly affect fertility (6) and improve it (7) , one of these mechanisms is the study of the polymorphisms of the genes that directly affect the different semen characteristics (8) . CPY19 gene (cytochrome p450, family 19) is one of the genes that are related to the quality of semen because it directly effects on steroid hormones (9) .…”