A Cascade of epistatic interactions regulating teratozoospermia in mice.

Infertility in humans and subfertility in domestic animals are two major reproductive problems. Among human couples, ~15% are diagnosed as infertile, and males are considered responsible in about 50% of the cases. To examine male fertility, various sperm tests including analyses of sperm morphology, sperm count and sperm mobility are usually performed.

Polygenic expression of teratozoospermia and normal fertility in B10.MOL-TEN1 mouse strain.

Subfertility and infertility are two major reproductive health problems in human and domestic animals. The contribution of the genotype to these conditions is poorly understood. To examine the genetic basis of male subfertility, we analyzed its relationship to sperm morphology in B10.

QTL on mouse chromosomes 1 and 4 causing sperm-head morphological abnormality and male subfertility.

The B10.M mouse strain represents a model for male subfertility as it produces a significantly low number of offspring. The only known male reproductive phenotype of this strain is its high frequency of sperm-head morphological abnormalities (44.