Meiotic pairing error in an infertile male bearing reciprocal deletion of chromosome 13

Abstract

A series of complex processes takes place during the first meiotic division, including pairing, synapsis, recombination, and segregation of homologous chromosomes. When any of these processes is altered, cellular checkpoints arrest the progression ofmeiosis and induce cell loss, causing a severe reduction in fertility, or even sterility. In this study, we report on a 29-year-old, healthy, but severe oligozoospermic male with a supernumerary, ring-neocentric 13q12.3 → 13q22 chromosome and a reciprocal deletion, which interfere with the meiotic pairing of chromosomes 13, causing spermatogenesis failure.