Small supernumerary marker chromosomes in human infertility

Abstract

Small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMC) are structurally abnormal chromosomes that cannot be unambiguously identified by banding cytogenetics. The objective of this study was to provide an overview of sSMC frequency and characterization in a context of infertility and to review the literature describing sSMC in relation with male and female infertility. Therefore, a systematic literature review on sSMC associated with infertility was conducted by means of a PubMed literature and a sSMC database (http://ssmc-tl.com/sSMC.html) search. A total of 234 patients with infertility were identified as carriers of sSMC. All chromosomes, except chromosomes 10, 19 and the X, were involved in sSMC, and in 72% the sSMC originated from acrocentric chromosomes. Euchromatic imbalances were caused by the presence of sSMC in 30% of the cases. Putative genes have been identified in only 1.2% of sSMC associated with infertility. The implication of sSMC in infertility could be due to a partial trisomy of some genes but also to mechanical effects perturbing meiosis. Further precise molecular and interphase-architecture studies on sSMC are needed in the future to characterize the relationship between this chromosomal anomaly and human infertility.