Researchers are increasingly finding genes that are linked to fertility, such as the recent British study that identified a gene in mice that is important in sperm to egg binding. Now, scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute have found a possible genetic cause for some cases of male infertility in humans and published their findings in PLoS One.

Led by Amy Johnson, Ph.D., the study found that a genetic variant, called a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), is more common in men with compromised sperm motility (sperm movement). Sperm have to be able to propel themselves and move forward to successfully fertilize an egg.