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Phenotypic Expression of Partial AZFc Deletions Is Independent of the Variations in DAZL and BOULE in a Han Population

LEI LI

From the ^* Department of Medical Genetics, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China; and the Reproductive Medicine Center, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.

Correspondence to: Dr Yuan Yang, Department of Medical Genetics, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Gaopeng Street, Keyuan Road 4, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, People's Republic of China (e-mail: yangyuan{at}scu.edu.cn).

DAZ on the Y chromosome and 2 autosomal ancestral genes DAZL and BOULE are suggested to represent functional conservation in spermatogenesis. The partial AZFc deletion, a common mutation of the Y chromosome, always involves 2 DAZ copies and represents a different spermatogenic phenotype in the populations studied. To investigate whether the variations in DAZL and BOULE influence partial AZFc deletion phenotype, the genotyping of 15 loci variations, including 4 known mutations and 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), was carried out in 157 azoo-/oligzoospermic men and 57 normozoospermic men, both groups with partial AZFc deletions. The frequencies of the alleles, genotypes, and haplotypes of the variations were compared between the 2 groups. As a result, for 9 exonic variations in DAZL and BOULE, only T12A was observed in both groups with similar frequency, and I71V was identified in an azoospermic man with b2/b3 deletion, whereas the rest were absent in the population. The distribution of DAZL haplotypes from 4 variations, including T12A, and of BOULE haplotypes from 2 SNPs was similar between men with normozoospermia and spermatogenic failure. Our findings indicate that the contribution of DAZL and BOULE variations to spermatogenic impairment in men with the DAZ defect is greatly limited, suggesting that expression of spermatogenic phenotypes of partial AZFc deletions is independent of the variations in DAZL and BOULE in the Han population.

     Key words: Y chromosome, DAZ, ancestral gene, spermatogenesis