| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: thangs{at}ccmb.res.in.
UBE2B gene encodes ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, which is involved in DNA repair. UBE2B knockout mice were found to be infertile, due to structural abnormality of sperm. However, there is no genetic study on the role of UBE2B gene in human fertility, therefore the present investigation was designed to study the genetic variations in the UBE2B gene and its role in human male infertility. Sequence analyses of UBE2B gene in 530 infertile (350 azoospermic, 105 oligoasthenoteratozoospermic and 75 oligoasthenozoospermic) and 300 fertile control men revealed the presence of 5 substitution SNPs in 221 individuals [199 infertile (37.5%) and 22 fertile (7.3%) men]. Of these, 2 (g.5197:T>G; g.9157:A>G) of the 5 substitutions were novel and observed only in infertile men. Distribution of haplotypes TA, TG, GA and GG are not uniform between the patient and the control group of this study. Interestingly, our study suggest that the haplotype TG conferred significantly increased risk for male infertility (OR = 5.07, 95% CI = 1.29-23.29, p = 0.007). In silico analysis of SNPs that were specific to infertile men predicted that these SNPs lead to defective splicing by destroying or creating the potential binding site of splicing factors or causing alteration in predicted regulatory sequences. In the light of the above, our study suggests that UBE2B gene is associated with male infertility in Indian men, hence, providing evidence for additional genetic factors for male infertility.
Key words: Assisted reproduction
Fertility
Infertility
Reproductive Genetics
Spermatogenesis
haplotype
ubiquitin
ubiquitin conjugating enzyme
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |