Nacario's Digital Scrapbook

• Scientists at Univ. Pennsylvania found a gene called TEX11 in the X chromosome that causes sterility in men.
• Men receive one X chromosome from their mothers and any mutation can lead to sterility.
• Mutations or defects during meiosis are the leading cause of infertility and birth defects. Some of these defects range from color blindness, genetic mutation, and muscle dystrophy.
• Study shows that there is a role for sex chromosomes during meiosis during it's early stages in a male, not the later stages. With TEX11, homologous chromosome fail to pair during meiosis which can result in male infertility.
• This failure during meiosis results in the elimination of spermatocytes in the later stages in meiosis.
• This relates to genetics and our reproductive units. We see in the article the interaction of chromosomes and the mutations that can occur, resulting in infertility. The reference to our reproductive unit is the spermatocytes, the creation of sperm within the testicles.
  

I think that this information can help diagnose men who cannot bear children or may be having difficulties because of a birth defect. This gene, TEX11 can be scene before birth and information like that can help the parents think of "what if" their child cannot have kids. The news may be depressing but it does give the parents time to think and plan their future. Perhaps if more tests are done, gene therapy can be done to remove TEX11 so birth defects are reduced and infertlity is decreased.

http://eureka.ya.com/locomotorweb/chromosome.jpg