Gene Families and Male Infertility?

I know, I know reading my title peeked your interest. You are wondering how could gene families and male infertility possibly be related? Luckily for you, I shall explain how the two are related. You're welcome.

So as this article explains, researchers from the University of California at San Francisco have found the head of the family of genes that have been linked to some male infertility cases. The gene which was name BOULE was found in mice, fleas, and humans. BOULE has been found to be involved in creating sperm during meiosis. As I previously said, BOULE was found to be the head of the gene family. Two descendants of BOULE that scientists have already discovered are DAZ and DAZL. Both DAZ and DAZL have been linked to male infertility.

In fact, 13% of male infertility cases are because of mutations in DAZ, yet strangely, the gene does not does not appear to be essential for sperm development. The exact role of DAZL is not yet known in humans, but in frogs it is fundamental in the development of both male and female germ cells. New studies show that BOULE may actually be required for mature sperm development. If defects in BOULE are proven to be what caused the male infertility, then gene therapy might be attempted to try and solve the male infertility problem.