Towards an understanding of the genetics of human male infertility: lessons from flies

It has been argued that about 4-5% of male adults suffer from infertility d ue to a genetic causation. From studies in the fruitfly Drosophila, there i s evidence that up to 1500 recessive genes contribute to male fertility in that species. Here we suggest that the control of human male fertility is o f at least comparable genetic complexity. However, because of small family size, conventional positional cloning methods for identifying human genes w ill have little impact on the dissection of male infertility. A critical se lection of well-defined infertility phenotypes in model organisms, combined with identification of the genes involved and their orthologues in man, mi ght reveal the genes that contribute to human male infertility.