The rate of male infertility is extremely high in India. It’s generally because of reasons like low sperm production, abnormal sperm shape, sperm motility and complete sperm absence. But now, a team of Indian researchers have discovered some underlying factors which cause infertility among men in India.
It’s known that the numerous many genes present in the Y chromosome help in sperm production. As such, a deletion of these genes on the Y chromosome leads to several testes diseases and even impairs the sperm production, thus resulting in infertility. The precise locations of such deletions on the Y chromosome are known among European population groups.
In their study, the Indian researchers have discovered the location of these micro deletions in the Y chromosome of the population groups in India. Among the infertile Indian men, the deletions on the Y chromosome are broadly different from these deletions observed among men belonging to other population group.
The researchers at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) situated in Hyderabad have been researching on the macro and micro deletions in the Y chromosome since nearly two decades. They believe that if the deletion to screen the infertile men is checked before adapting any reproductive treatments then people can directly opt for options such as donor sperm. The team is currently working to come up with such kind of genetic test for male infertility.
Deepali Sharma
Deepali has worked as an editor for various print-based magazines for more than 5 years. She brings together substantial news pieces from Science/Environment niche.
