Abstract
Normal lepidopteran males produce two kinds of spermatozoa: nucleate (eupyrene) and anucleate (apyrene). Eupyrene spermatozoa have the usual type of elongate nuclei. But in apyrene spermatids, the nuclei never elongate and the chromatin remains in a telophase-like condition until enucleation occurs. The study of the differential nucleoprotein kinetics of the two types of spermatids, using the fluorescent dye sulfoflavine, shows that: (1) In the elongate eupyrene nuclei, lysine-rich nucleoproteins are replaced by arginine-rich ones, while in the non-elongating apyrene nuclei only lysine-rich nucleoproteins are detected. However, nuclear elongation is not causally related to nucleoprotein transitions as transitions occur in the eupyrene spermatids after nuclear elongation. (2) The replacement of the nucleoproteins occurs in the eupyrene nuclei in a polarized manner. This may be correlated with the heterogeneous ultrastructural configuration of the chromatin fibers in elongating spermatid nuclei, as shown in other insect species. (3) Concomitantly with the eupyrene spermatid nucleoprotein transition, the cytoplasm of the head cyst cell shows an increasing amount of cytoplasmic lysine-rich proteins, while no such a phenomenon occurs in apyrene cysts. This differential pattern distribution may reflact functional differences among the two types of cysts and is probably related to the regulation of the dichotomy in lepidopteran spermatogenesis.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baccetti, B., Afzelius, B.A.: The biology of the sperm cell. Monographs in development. Biol. 10, (1976)
Bloch, D.P.: Cytochemistry of the histones. Protoplasmatologia 5, 1–56. Wien: Springer 1966
Bogdanov, Yu.F., Strokov, A.A., Reznikova, S.A.: Histone synthesis during meiotic prophase of Lilium. Chromosoma (Berl.) 43, 237–245 (1973)
Brock, W.A., Trostle, P.K., Meistrich, J.L.: Meiotic synthesis of testes histories in the rat. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (Wash.) 77, 371–375 (1980)
Friedländer, M., Benz, G.: The eupyrene-apyrene dichotomous spermatogenesis of Lepidoptera. Organ culture study on the timing of apyrene commitment in the codling moth. Int. J. Invertebr. Reprod. 3, 113–120 (1981)
Friedländer, M., Jans, P., Benz, G.: Precocious reprogramming of eupyrene-apyrene spermatogenesis commitment induced by allatectomy of the penultimate larval instar of the moth Actias selene. J. Insect Physiol. 27, 267–269 (1981)
Friedländer, M., Miesel, S.: Spermatid anucleation during the normal atypical spermiogenesis of the warehouse moth Ephestia cautella. J. Submicros. Cytol. 9, 173–185 (1977)
Friedländer, M., Wahrman, J.: The number of centrioles in two kinds of differentiating silkworm spermatids. J. Morph. 134, 383–398 (1971)
Friedländer, M., Hauschteck-Jungen, E.: The regular divisions of the spermatocytes as related to a meiotic lysine-rich protein fraction. Chromosoma (Berl.) 85, 109–118 (1982)
Hauschteck-Jungen, E., Hartl, D.L.: Defective histone transition during spermatogenesis in heterozygous segregation distorted males of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics, in press (1982)
Hauschteck-Jungen, E., Hartl, D.L.: DNA distribution in spermatid nuclei of normal and segregation distorted males of Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 89, 15–35 (1978)
Hauschteck-Jungen, Maurer, B.: Sperm dysfunction in sex ratio males of Drosophila subobscura. Genetics 46, 459–477 (1976)
Kaye, J.S., McMaster-Kaye, R., Moss, S.B.: Fraction of cricket testis nuclei on gradients of colloidal silica for study of basic protein changes during spermatogenesis. Exp. Cell Res. 117, 245–253 (1978)
Kierszenbaum, A.L., Tres, L.L.: The packing unit: A basic structural feature for the condensation of late cricket spermatid nuclei. J. Cell Sci. 33, 265–238 (1978)
Leemann, U., Ruch, F.: Cytofluorometric determination of basic and total proteins with sulfaflavine. J. Histochem, Cytochem. 20, 659–671 (1972)
Leviatan, R., Friedländer, M.: The eupyrene-apyrene dichotomous spermatogenesis of Lepidoptera. I. The relationship with postembryonic development and the role of the decline in juvenile hormone titer towards pupation. Develop. Biol. 68, 515–534 (1979)
Loir, M., Courtens, J.-L.: Nuclear reorganization in ram spermatids. J. Ultrastruct. Res. 67, 309–324 (1979)
McMaster-Kaye, R., Kaye, J.S.: Organization of chromatin during spermiogenesis: Beaded fibers, partially beaded fibers, and loss of nucleosomal structure. Chromosoma (Berl.) 77, 41–56 (1980)
Meistrich, M.L., Brock, W.A., Grimes, S.Y., Platz, R.D., Hnilika, L.S.: Nuclear protein transition during spermatogenesis. Fed. Proc. 37, 2522–2525 (1978)
Meves, F.: Über oligopyrene und apyrene Spermien und über ihre Entstehung, nach Beobachtungen an Paludina und Pygaera. Arch. Mikrosk. Entw. Mech. 61, 1–82 (1903)
Peacock, W.J., Tokoyasu, K.T., Hardy, R.W.: Spermiogenesis and meiotic drive in Drosophila. In: Procedings of the international symposium of the genetics of the spermatozoon (R.A. Beatty and S. Gluecksohn-Waelsh, eds.), pp. 247–258. Edinburgh and New York (1972)
Ruch, F.: Principles and some applications of cytofluorometry. In: Introduction to quantitative cytochemistry (G.L. Wied and G.F. Bahr, eds.), Vol. 2, pp. 431–450. New York: Academic Press (1970)
Tokoyasu, K.T., Peacock, W.J., Hardy, R.W.: Dynamics of spermiogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. I. Individualization process. Z. Zellforsch. 124, 479–506 (1972a)
Tokoyasu, K.T., Peacock, W.J., Hardy, R.W.: Dynamics of spermiogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. II. Coiling process. Z. Zellforsch. 127, 492–525 (1972b)
Zakhidov, S.T., Marshak, T.L., Danilova, L.V.: Basic nuclear proteins in the spermatogenesis of diploid and polyploid forms of silkworm. I. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of histones in the nuclei of spermatogenic cells of diploid animals. Tsitologiya 20, 298–305 (1978a)
Zakhidov, S.T., Marshak, T.L., Danilova, L.V.: Basic nuclear proteins in the spermatogenesis of the diploid and polyploid forms of the silkworm. II. DNA and histones contents in the nuclei of spermatogenic cells in triploid animals. Tsitologiya (USSR) 20, 657–664 (1978b)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Friedländer, M., Hauschteck-Jungen, E. Differential basic nucleoprotein kinetics in the two kinds of lepidoptera spermatids: Nucleate (eupyrene) and anucleate (apyrene). Chromosoma 85, 387–398 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330361
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330361