Two genes have been found to play a tandem role in the development of sperm in mice, by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and University of Münster, Germany.
SPOCD1 was found to play a role in the earliest stages of the formation of sperm cells. Now, a previously unknown gene, C19orf84, has been found to protect germ cells, the cells that are precursors to sperm. Both do so by protecting sperm DNA epigenetically, and the mechanism underpinning this could provide clues to the genetic basis of infertility in some men. Results are published in Molecular Cell.
