Abstract.
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.
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Quintana-Murci, L., Krausz, C., Heyer, E. et al. The relationship between Y chromosome DNA haplotypes and Y chromosome deletions leading to male infertility. Hum Genet 108, 55–58 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004390000424
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004390000424