A sperm needs to maintain an immunoprotective shield until it arrives in the upper female reproductive tract and is competent to fertilize.  Researchers at the University of California, Davis have discovered a sequence variation of the gene that encodes the highly-expressed protein necessary for this immunoprotective shield.  The specific sequence variation significantly alters the structure and function of the protein, negatively impacting reproductive fitness, particularly sperm feunction and fertility.  The presence or lack of this sequence variation can be used to determine whether an individual has an increased risk or probability of infertility.

Determining if one has an increased risk of infertility is as simple as obtaining and analyzing a biological sample.  Methods of detection include a broad range of common biological laboratory techniques, including but not limited to, amplification reactions, hybridization, sequencing subsequences of the gene, restriction fragment length polymorphism, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and usage of antibodies, ELISA, immunoprecipitation, Western blot, and protein array.  The presence of the sequence variation indicates an increased risk or probability of infertility.  Lack of the sequence variation indicates normal fertility.

File Number: 11444 

Web site: http://techtransfer.universityofcalifornia.edu/...