Lessons from knockout and transgenic mice for infertility in men

This review concentrates on the clear cases where knocking out a gene in mi ce has caused male infertility and thus comes near to proving that the gene plays a role in the development of sperm. Knockout mice have been created with primary defects at every stage of spermatogenesis thus creating a fram ework for decoding the genetic hierarchy that causes male germ cell differe ntiation. As well as defining essential genes in vivo experiments have defi ned promoter and untranslated sequences responsible for the expression of p roteins at all the spermatogenic stages. In conclusion knockout mice remain the ultimate test of spermatogenic hypotheses as well as providing detaile d information about this complex process. (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 23: 584-5 91, 2000) (C) 2000, Editrice Kurtis.