Spermatogenic failure-39 (SPGF39) is characterized by infertility due to asthenozoospermia. In some patients, spermatozoa exhibit multiple morphologic anomalies of the sperm flagellum (MMAF), including short, absent, irregularly shaped, and coiled flagella. Abnormalities of the sperm head and midpiece have also been observed, and ultrastructural analysis shows a lack of the outer dynein arms (ODAs) in sperm cells. In other patients, sperm do not exhibit MMAF, and ultrastructural analysis shows that many flagella lack 1 or more of microtubule doublets (MTDs) 4 to 7 at the principal piece or end piece; however, ODAs are present at the remaining MTDs (Whitfield et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2020).
For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of spermatogenic failure, see SPGF1 (258150). [from
OMIM]