Small supernumerary marker chromosomes detected in connection with infertility.

Infertility is known to be associated with chromosomal aberrations. Here the author reviews hitherto yet published cases of infertility identified to be carriers of small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMC). According to the sSMC web page (http://ssmc-tl. com/Start.html) there are now 225 cases of sSMC detected and characterized for their chromosomal origin and genetic content in infertile but otherwise health persons. In 54% of the cases, sSMC originated from chromosome 15 or 14, and was parentally transmitted in over 50% of the infertile sSMC-carriers. To the best of the authors knowledge, this is the largest review of infertile sSMC-carriers ever done.