FertilityOnline, a straight pipeline for functional gene annotation and disease mutation discovery, identifies novel infertility causative mutations in SYCE1 and STAG3

Abstract

Exploring the genetic basis of human infertility is currently under intensive investigation. However, only a handful of genes are validated in animal models as disease-causing genes in infertile men. Thus, to better understand the genetic basis of spermatogenesis in human and to bridge the knowledge gap between human and other animal species, we have constructed FertilityOnline database, which is a resource that integrates the functional genes reported in literature related to spermatogenesis into an existing spermatogenic database, SpermatogenesisOnline 1.0. Additional features like functional annotation and statistical analysis of genetic variants of human genes, are also incorporated into FertilityOnline. By searching this database, users can focus on the top candidate genes associated with infertility and can perform enrichment analysis to instantly refine the number of candidates in a user-friendly web interface. Clinical validation of this database is established by the identification of novel causative mutations in SYCE1 and STAG3 in azoospermia men. In conclusion, FertilityOnline is not only an integrated resource for analysis of spermatogenic genes, but also a useful tool that facilitates to study underlying genetic basis of male infertility. AvailabilityFertilityOnline can be freely accessed at http://mcg.ustc.edu.cn/bsc/spermgenes2.0/index.html.