Sixteen oogenesin genes are dispensable for fertilityWhat is the significance of the dispensability of genes expressed in germ-cell?

Abstract

AbstractGene knockout experiments have shown that many genes are dispensable for a given biological function. The Oogenesin/Pramel family contains almost 85 paralogs, about thirty of which are specific to female (as well as male for some of them) germ cells. In this paper, we show that the deletion of a block of around 1Mb containing sixteen paralogous genes of the Oogenesin/Pramel family specific to germ cells, including Oogenesin-2, -3 and -4, has no consequences on fertility or prolificacy in mouse both sexes. The dispensability of these genes is probably due to the compensation by the other germ-cell specific paralogs.