Regular Article
The role of Y–encoded genes in mammalian spermatogenesis

https://doi.org/10.1006/scdb.1998.0228Get rights and content

Abstract

As long ago as 1931 Fisher outlined the reasons for the accumulation of male `benefit genes' (e.g. male fertility factors) on the Y chromosome, but it was over four decades later that a study of men with partial Y chromosome deletions revealed that a factor essential for male fertility was present on the human Y. Today, the Y deletion interval containing this `Azoospermia Factor' (AZF)has been subdivided into three subintervals associated with different degrees of spermatogenic impairment. Furthermore, three deletion intervals have been identified on the mouse Y that impact on the spermatogenic process. This review examines these deletion intervals in mouse and man and summarises progress towards identifying candidate genes for their respective spermatogenic functions.

References (0)

Cited by (43)

  • Sequencing the mouse y chromosome reveals convergent gene acquisition and amplification on both sex chromosomes

    2014, Cell
    Citation Excerpt :

    The mouse MSY, which does not undergo crossing over with a homolog, is impervious to conventional genetic mapping methods, requiring instead approaches such as deletion mapping. When this study began, most identified genes, including the sex-determining gene Sry, mapped to the short arm (Burgoyne, 1998; Mazeyrat et al., 1998). The long arm was comparatively impenetrable due to its highly repetitive nature (Eicher et al., 1989; Nishioka and Lamothe, 1986; Phillips et al., 1982).

  • Using mouse models to investigate sex-linked genetic effects on brain, behaviour and vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders

    2013, Brain Research Bulletin
    Citation Excerpt :

    Moreover, due to its small size and limited gene content, the Y chromosome has, until recently, been viewed as having little effect on brain function, so the impetus for attempting to create such models has not existed [77]. In the absence of engineered Y-linked gene knockout models, information about the neural function of these genes may be obtained by undertaking neurobiological analyses in mice with small spontaneous or induced mutations (such as the XY− mouse [128]) or in Y chromosomal mutants, such as those previously used to investigate effects on male spermatogenesis and fertility [19] and lacking brain-expressed Y-linked genes such as Ube1y, Kdm5d (formerly Smcy) and Ddx3y (formerly Dby) [143]. In the next few years, it is likely that rats deleted (or transgenic) for sex-linked genes will be generated [69]; given the greater existing literature on the neurobiology of the rat than the mouse, the greater availability of neuroanalytical techniques for the rat, and the rat's greater amenability to neurosurgery, studies in this new rodent model organism promise to provide even greater insights into the molecular underpinnings of sex-linked behavioural perturbations.

  • Spermatogenesis in fish

    2010, General and Comparative Endocrinology
    Citation Excerpt :

    In most teleost fish, however, spermatids do not develop an acrosome. In species with distinct sex chromosomes, spermatogenesis-specific genes have the tendency to accumulate on the male-specific chromosome, for example a number of the structural genes required for the formation of the flagellum are on the mammalian Y chromosome (Burgoyne, 1998). The respective mRNAs are required when the germ cell genome has become inaccessible due to maximal chromatin condensation; also, these genes are not available in the nucleus in those 50% of the cells that received the X chromosome during meiosis.

View all citing articles on Scopus

Unspecified

View full text