‘Infertile’ studies on mitochondrial DNA variation in asthenozoospermic Tunisian men

• We re-analyze the seeming association of mtDNA with infertility in Tunisians.
• The existing data are incomplete and deficient.
• The data do not support association of mtDNA and infertility.

We reviewed five studies undertaken by the same research group on the possible links between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation and asthenozoospermia, all carried out on Tunisian men. A thorough assessment of these articles reveals that all five studies were carried out on virtually the same cohort of patients, although this information was concealed by the authors. Thus, the results were ‘sliced’ in order to unjustifiably maximize the number of publications. In addition, a phylogenetic analysis of their data indicates that the reported results are notably incomplete and deficient. Overall, contrary to the original claims, the association of mtDNA variants with asthenozoospermia finds no support on this saga on Tunisian infertile men.