A network-based method for the identification of putative genes related to infertility.

BACKGROUND Infertility has become one of the major health problems worldwide, with its incidence having risen markedly in recent decades. There is an urgent need to investigate the pathological mechanisms behind infertility and to design effective treatments. However, this is made difficult by the fact that various biological factors have been identified to be related to infertility, including genetic factors. METHODS A network-based method was established to identify new genes potentially related to infertility. A network constructed using human protein-protein interactions based on previously validated infertility-related genes enabled the identification of some novel candidate genes. These genes were then filtered by a permutation test and their functional and structural associations with infertility-related genes. RESULTS Our method identified 23 novel genes, which have strong functional and structural associations with previously validated infertility-related genes. CONCLUSIONS Substantial evidence indicates that the identified genes are strongly related to dysfunction of the four main biological processes of fertility: reproductive development and physiology, gametogenesis, meiosis and recombination, and hormone regulation. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE The newly discovered genes may provide new directions for investigating infertility. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "System Genetics" Guest Editor: Dr. Yudong Cai and Dr. Tao Huang.

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