Chennai: A new study has found that the X chromosome gene is essential for sperm development and male fertility.
Researchers from Hyderabad-based CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and other institutes have for the first time found that the X chromosome (TEX13B) gene is essential for male sperm development and male fertility.
According to the study, one in seven couples are found to be infertile. The study was recently published in the Journal of Human Reproduction.
That is, in a study of seven pairs of men, two causes were found in the gene TEX13B. One of them was found only in an infertile male.
andAnother was infertile compared to fertile control males It is seen in men. Together, these are said to affect the formation of new sperm.
In this case, the researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to knock out the Tex13b gene and create a model of cells that produce active sperm.
In doing so, the researchers found that cells that had lost the X chromosome gene reduced their respiratory capacity, and that TEX13B regulates energy metabolism in cells that produce sperm.
The study, researchers say, may be useful in diagnosing and counseling infertile men with low sperm count.
The TEX13B gene is located on the X chromosome. As CCMB Director Vinay Kumar Nandiguri elaborates, “All males inherit the X chromosome gene only from their mother, not from their father.
It means that a mother carrying the faulty ‘TEX13B’ gene is fertile. But when the mother carries the X chromosome with the faulty TEX13B, the son is sterile. He said that he did not expect it to be a fundamental cause of male infertility.
