Zygote
- Zygote / Volume 2 / Issue 04 / November 1994, pp 383-384
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0967199400002276 (About DOI), Published online: 26 September 2008
Article
Stability of the mammalian sperm nucleus
R. Yanagimachia1
a1 Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, University of Hawaii Medical School,Honolulu, HI 96822, USA.
The nuclei of spermatozoa leaving the testies are transcritionally inactivated and are structurally stabilised by extensive association of sperm DNA with protamines, highly basic proteins that replace somatic histones during spermiogenesis. During sperm matureation within teh epididymis, protamine–SH is oxidised to -SS-(Bedford & Calvin, 1974).
