Lack of association of KATNAL1 gene sequence variants and azoospermia in humans
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Batsal Devkota; Kyle Eckert; Richard T. Scott; Katharine Thompson; Nathan R. Treff; Deanne Taylor; Anastasia Fedick; Eric J. Forman
- Source
- Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics. 31(8)
- Subject
- Male
Single-nucleotide polymorphism
Biology
Genetic analysis
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Male infertility
Genetic model
Endopeptidases
medicine
Genetics
Humans
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Gene
Genetics (clinical)
Infertility, Male
Genetic association
Azoospermia
Haplotype
Obstetrics and Gynecology
General Medicine
DNA
medicine.disease
Semen Analysis
Reproductive Medicine
Haplotypes
Case-Control Studies
Katanin
Developmental Biology
- Language
- ISSN
- 1573-7330
A recent experiment indicated that a loss of function mutation in the murine Katnal1 gene resulted in male factor infertility due to premature exfoliation of spermatids. This study investigated the relevance of this gene to infertility in humans. Multiple methods of genetic analysis were employed to investigate whether mutations in human KATNAL1 have a causative role in male infertility. This was a genetic association study, which included DNA samples from 105 men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and 242 anonymous sperm donor controls. 28 commercially available TaqMan SNP assays were used to haplotype samples from both groups and genetically tag regions of interest across the entire gene. AmpliSeq primers were then designed for identified regions so that targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) could be used to identify causative variants. Four SNPs in the 3’UTR demonstrated a putative association with NOA. The AmpliSeq primers designed for the 3’UTR provided 83 % coverage of the 7,202 basepairs within the regions of interest. Variant sites were analyzed against genetic models to identify sequence polymorphisms which associated with NOA. No variants met standard criteria for significance when tested between the groups. This study suggests a lack of association of KATNAL1 gene sequence variants and azoospermia in humans.