Intriguingly, it has been shown that protein restriction during neonatal development can impair adult fertility by delaying puberty and accelerating reproductive decline in female rats [22], so it is possible that the early failure-to-thrive seen in Magel2-null pups contributes to both their delay in puberty and their later reproductive difficulties, but is unlikely to be the sole cause of infertility. This evidence concerns the gene MAGEL2 and Failure to thrive.