Disease relevance of DAZ4

• DAZLA is a new member of the DAZ family of genes, which is associated with spermatogenesis and male sterility [1].
• The evolution of the deleted in azoospermia (DAZ) gene family supports prevalent theories on the origin and development of sex chromosomes and sexual dimorphism [2].
• The DAZ gene, a contributing factor in infertility, lies on the human Y chromosome's AZFc region, whose deletion is a common cause of spermatogenic failure [3].

High impact information on DAZ4

• Genetic evidence has indicated that the DAZ family genes are critical for successful male germ cell development in diverse animals as well as humans [4].
• A large AZFc deletion removes DAZ3/DAZ4 and nearby genes from men in Y haplogroup N [5].
• Evolution of the DAZ gene family suggests that Y-linked DAZ plays little, or a limited, role in spermatogenesis but underlines a recent African origin for human populations [6].
• It was found that human DAZ exons and introns are evolving at the same rate, implying neutral genetic drift and the absence of any functional selective pressures [6].
• A new probe mapping on the deleted in azoospermia (DAZ) repetitive region of the Yq chromosome was designed for an early assessment of fetal DNA concentration in maternal serum [7].

Biological context of DAZ4

• The deleted-in-azoospermia (DAZ) gene family constitutes the major candidate for the AZFc (azoospermia factor c) phenotype of male infertility, being deleted in about 10% of azoospermic and severely oligozoospermic subjects [8].
• DAZ haplotypes were defined using single-nucleotide variant (SNV)/sequence tagged-site (STS) markers to distinguish between the four copies of the gene [3].
• BACKGROUND: DAZ gene family is crucial for human spermatogenesis that requires the precise co-ordination of cell cycle events [9].
• Quantitation of fetal DNA in maternal serum during the first trimester of pregnancy by the use of a DAZ repetitive probe [7].
• The variation of 10 Y chromosome short tandem repeat (STRs) was used to determine the coalescence age of DAZ haplotypes in a comparable time frame similar to that of SNP haplogroups [3].

Anatomical context of DAZ4

• The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression of the DAZ gene in seminiferous tubules of six men with spermatogenic disorders (hypospermatogenesis and spermatogenic arrest) [10].
• In the patients with spermatogenic arrest at the spermatocyte stage, the DAZ gene transcripts were also found in primary spermatocytes [10].
• The results of our study showed that DAZ gene activity seems to correspond to the proliferative activity of stem cells of germinal epithelium [10].
• A protein in RAW 264.7 macrophages, which became phosphorylated in response to LPS (lipopolysaccharide), was identified as the RNA-binding protein called DAZAP1 [DAZ (deleted in azoospermia)-associated protein 1] [11].

Associations of DAZ4 with chemical compounds

• Since SFV showed clearly the presence of DAZ2, it may be hypothesized that C5 lacks DAZ4 [12].
• The mutation of Thr(269) and Thr(315) to aspartate or the phosphorylation of these residues caused DAZAP1 to dissociate from its binding partner DAZ [11].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of DAZ4

• Southern blot analysis showed that DAZLA is autosomal in all mammals tested and that DAZ has been recently translocated to the Y chromosome, sometime after the divergence of Old World and New World primates [1].
• Real-time PCR with the use of DAZ multilocus probe can efficiently quantitate free fetal DNA in the maternal serum at the beginning of pregnancy [7].
• The results based on the RT-PCR IS technique demonstrated that the DAZ product was present only in some seminiferous tubules and the fluorescence intensity was different within individual tubules [10].
• With each hearing aid prescription, the ability of the hearing aid circuitry to reduce the effects of noise was evaluated by a sentence-in-noise test in three conditions: (1) adaptive directional microphone (DAZ), (2) multichannel noise reduction system (FNC), and (3) a combination of FNC and DAZ (FNC + DAZ) [13].

References