In a recent study published in the eBioMedicine journal, researchers investigated the genetic underpinning of asthenozoospermia, the leading cause of male fertility. Their multidisciplinary examinations were able to identify adenylate kinase 9 (AK9), an enzyme involved in sperm energy metabolism and cellular nucleotide homeostasis, as essential to fertilization by enabling sperm to swim toward the ovum even in sugar-free media. Mutations in the AK9 encoding gene were found to cause male infertility, both in murine models and human study participants. While these genetic mutations are life-long, the team discovered that intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI) were able to rescue afflicted patients…