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Unlocking the key to human fertility
Date:8/3/2009

is a definite pattern to the way DNA is packaged in sperm cells and we can see that this pattern is the same in unrelated fertile men. It is different in the sperm of infertile men. This implies that there is a significance to the packaging of DNA that has a direct relevance to male fertility," says Dr Iles.

Detailed analyses of the DNA in the 'open', less tightly packaged conformation, showed this DNA carries much of the information critical for activating genes essential for directing the development of the embryo. Further investigations showed the same conformation to exist in the sperm of several unrelated human donors and remarkably, highly similar packaging patterns to exist in the sperm of mice.

DNA regions in the 'open' conformation may therefore be more vulnerable to damaging toxins, such as those in cigarette smoke and certain anti-cancer drugs, than those that are tightly packaged. As Dr Brinkworth says, "this might mean that anything capable of causing genetic damage to sperm could have particular significance for the development of the embryo".

The findings also help explain why inter-species breeding is so rarely successful. Where the locks and keys of two species do not match, however similar their DNA is, no viable offspring can be born. Occasionally, for example, with horses and donkeys, offspring are produced - but because the sperm and egg signatures are incompatible, their development as embryos is abnormal and any offspring are almost always infertile.

The research team believes that the same mechanism must also have played a role during human evolution. In the ancient history of mankind, Neanderthals co-existed with modern humans over many thousands of years. Sexual encounters between these two closely related species cannot be ruled out, yet there is no evidence in our DNA of a legacy from such couplings. It is possible that if offspring were produced, they either did not survive long or if they did, t
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Contact: Dr. David Iles
d.e.iles@leeds.ac.uk
44-113-343-2890
University of Leeds
Source:Eurekalert

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