In mammals, the Y chromosome directs the development of the testes and plays an important role in spermatogenesis. A high percentage of infertile men have deletions that map to regions of the Y chromosome. The DAZ (deleted in azoospermia) gene cluster maps to the AZFc region and is deleted in many azoospermic and severely oligospermic men. It is thought that the Y chromosomal DAZ gene cluster arose from the transposition, amplification, and pruning of the ancestral autosomal gene DAZL. This gene encodes a RNA-binding protein with two RNP motifs that was originally identified by its interaction with the infertility factors DAZ and DAZL.[7]
^"Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^"Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^Tsui S, Dai T, Roettger S, Schempp W, Salido EC, Yen PH (Aug 2000). "Identification of two novel proteins that interact with germ-cell-specific RNA-binding proteins DAZ and DAZL1". Genomics. 65 (3): 266–73. doi:10.1006/geno.2000.6169. PMID10857750.
^Tsui S, Dai T, Roettger S, Schempp W, Salido EC, Yen PH (May 2000). "Identification of two novel proteins that interact with germ-cell-specific RNA-binding proteins DAZ and DAZL1". Genomics. 65 (3): 266–73. doi:10.1006/geno.2000.6169. PMID10857750.
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