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Amphibian Sperm Chromatin Structure and Function and Its Relevance to Sperm Preservation. J HERPETOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1670/17-163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Abstract
This review highlights recent discoveries that have shaped the emerging viewpoints in the field of epigenetic influences in the central nervous system (CNS), focusing on the following questions: (i) How is the CNS shaped during development when precursor cells transition into morphologically and molecularly distinct cell types, and is this event driven by epigenetic alterations?; ii) How do epigenetic pathways control CNS function?; (iii) What happens to "epigenetic memory" during aging processes, and do these alterations cause CNS dysfunction?; (iv) Can one restore normal CNS function by manipulating the epigenome using pharmacologic agents, and will this ameliorate aging-related neurodegeneration? These and other still unanswered questions remain critical to understanding the impact of multifaceted epigenetic machinery on the age-related dysfunction of CNS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue-Qiang Zhao
- />Buck Institute for Research on Aging, 8001 Redwood Boulevard, Novato, CA 94945-1400 USA
- />Department of Plastic Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - I. King Jordan
- />School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA USA
- />PanAmerican Bioinformatics Institute, Santa Marta, Magdalena Colombia
| | - Victoria V. Lunyak
- />Buck Institute for Research on Aging, 8001 Redwood Boulevard, Novato, CA 94945-1400 USA
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Shishova NV, Uteshev VK, Sirota NP, Kuznetsova EA, Kaurova SA, Browne RK, Gakhova EN. The quality and fertility of sperm collected from European common frog (Rana temporaria) carcasses refrigerated for up to 7 days. Zoo Biol 2013; 32:400-6. [DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2012] [Revised: 01/30/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Nikolai P. Sirota
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, RAS; Puschino, Moscow Region; Russia
| | - Elena A. Kuznetsova
- Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Biophysics, RAS; Puschino, Moscow Region; Russia
| | | | - Robert K. Browne
- Center for Conservation and Research; Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp; Antwerp; Belgium
| | - Edith N. Gakhova
- Institute of Cell Biophysics; RAS; Puschino, Moscow Region; Russia
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Frehlick LJ, Eirín-López JM, Jeffery ED, Hunt DF, Ausió J. The characterization of amphibian nucleoplasmins yields new insight into their role in sperm chromatin remodeling. BMC Genomics 2006; 7:99. [PMID: 16646973 PMCID: PMC1479337 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-7-99] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2006] [Accepted: 04/28/2006] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Nucleoplasmin is a nuclear chaperone protein that has been shown to participate in the remodeling of sperm chromatin immediately after fertilization by displacing highly specialized sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs), such as protamine (P type) and protamine-like (PL type) proteins, from the sperm chromatin and by the transfer of histone H2A-H2B. The presence of SNBPs of the histone type (H type) in some organisms (very similar to the histones found in somatic tissues) raises uncertainty about the need for a nucleoplasmin-mediated removal process in such cases and poses a very interesting question regarding the appearance and further differentiation of the sperm chromatin remodeling function of nucleoplasmin and the implicit relationship with SNBP diversity The amphibians represent an unique opportunity to address this issue as they contain genera with SNBPs representative of each of the three main types: Rana (H type); Xenopus (PL type) and Bufo (P type). Results In this work, the presence of nucleoplasmin in oocyte extracts from these three organisms has been assessed using Western Blotting. We have used mass spectrometry and cloning techniques to characterize the full-length cDNA sequences of Rana catesbeiana and Bufo marinus nucleoplasmin. Northern dot blot analysis shows that nucleoplasmin is mainly transcribed in the egg of the former species. Phylogenetic analysis of nucleoplasmin family members from various metazoans suggests that amphibian nucleoplasmins group closely with mammalian NPM2 proteins. Conclusion We have shown that these organisms, in striking contrast to their SNBPs, all contain nucleoplasmins with very similar primary structures. This result has important implications as it suggests that nucleoplasmin's role in chromatin assembly during early zygote development could have been complemented by the acquisition of a new function of non-specifically removing SNBPs in sperm chromatin remodeling. This acquired function would have been strongly determined by the constraints imposed by the appearance and differentiation of SNBPs in the sperm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay J Frehlick
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Petch Building, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada
| | - José María Eirín-López
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Petch Building, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada
- Departamento de Biología Celular y Molecular, Universidade da Coruña, Campus de A Zapateira s/n, E-15071, Spain
| | - Erin D Jeffery
- Department of Chemistry and Pathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901, USA
| | - Donald F Hunt
- Department of Chemistry and Pathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901, USA
| | - Juan Ausió
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Petch Building, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada
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Lewis JD, Saperas N, Song Y, Zamora MJ, Chiva M, Ausió J. Histone H1 and the origin of protamines. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2004; 101:4148-52. [PMID: 15024099 PMCID: PMC384709 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0308721101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We present evidence that chordate protamines have evolved from histone H1. During the final stages of spermatogenesis, the compaction of DNA in many organisms is accomplished by the replacement of histones with a class of arginine-rich proteins called protamines. In other organisms, however, condensation of sperm DNA can occur with comparable efficiency in the presence of somatic-type histones or, alternatively, an intermediate class of proteins called protamine-like proteins. The idea that the highly specialized sperm chromosomal proteins (protamines) and somatic chromosomal proteins (histones) could be related dates back almost to the discovery of these proteins. Although this notion has frequently been revisited since that time, there has been a complete lack of supporting experimental evidence. Here we show that the emergence of protamines in chordates occurred very quickly, as a result of the conversion of a lysine-rich histone H1 to an arginine-rich protamine. We have characterized the sperm nuclear basic proteins of the tunicate Styela montereyensis, which we show consists of both a protamine and a sperm-specific histone H1 with a protamine tail. Comparison of the genes encoding these proteins to that of a sister protochordate, Ciona intestinalis, has indicated this rapid and dramatic change is most likely the result of frameshift mutations in the tail of the sperm-specific histone H1. By establishing an evolutionary link between the chromatin-condensing histone H1s of somatic tissues and the chromatin-condensing proteins of the sperm, these results provide unequivocal support to the notion that vertebrate protamines evolved from histones.
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Affiliation(s)
- John D Lewis
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, Petch Building, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 3P6
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Kasinsky HE, Frehlick LJ, Su HWH, Ausio J. Protamines in the internally fertilizing neobatrachian frogEleutherodactylus coqui. Mol Reprod Dev 2004; 70:373-81. [PMID: 15696590 DOI: 10.1002/mrd.20207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
The internally fertilizing primitive frog Ascaphus truei (family Ascaphidae) from the Pacific Northwest is the only frog with an intromittent organ. The more advanced neobatrachian frog Eleutherodactylus coqui (family Leptodactylidae) from Puerto Rico has secondarily acquired internal fertilization but mates by cloacal apposition. Nonetheless, both frogs have introsperm with an elongated head containing highly condensed chromatin. Characterization of sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs) in E. coqui by acid-urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicates that, as in A. truei, testes from a single animal contain several protamines. Amino acid analysis indicates a composition for the most rapidly moving protamine of each species as follows: in E. coqui, ARG (35.6 mol %) + LYS (3.8 mol %) + HIS (7.6 mol %) = 47 mol % total basic residues and in A. truei, ARG (42.1 mol %) + LYS (11.1 mol %) = 53.2 mol % total basic residues. Transmission electron microscopy shows that E. coqui introsperm, like those in A. truei, are elongate with highly condensed chromatin. However, E. coqui introsperm lacks an axial perforatorium that extends into an endonuclear canal. These morphological features are plesiomorphic (primitive) and shared by A. truei with urodeles and basal amniotes (Jamieson et al. (1993) Herpetologica 49:52-65). In E. coqui introsperm, the nucleoprotein complex has a cross-sectional axis of 420 + 20 angstroms and shows a knobby chromatin structural organization in TEM. The presence of arginine-enriched protamines in both a basal anuran like the ascaphid A. truei and a more advanced neobatrachian like the leptodactylid E. coqui supports the hypothesis that internal fertilization acts as a constraint on the range of SNBP diversity in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harold E Kasinsky
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4.
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Manochantr S, Sretarugsa P, Chavadej J, Sobhon P. Chromatin organization and basic nuclear proteins in the male germ cells ofRana tigerina. Mol Reprod Dev 2004; 70:184-97. [PMID: 15570620 DOI: 10.1002/mrd.20191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
The process of chromatin condensation during spermiogenesis in Rana tigerina is similar to the heterochromatization in somatic cells, where 30 nm fibers are coalesced together into a dense mass in spermatozoa without changing their initial size and nucleosomal organization. This conclusion was supported by the finding that the full set of core histones (H2A, H2B, H3, H4) are still present in sperm chromatin, but histone H1 is replaced by its variant, H1V. Rabbit anti-sera were raised against histone H3, H1, H1V, and H5 (H1 variant in chick erythrocyte). Anti-histone H1 antiserum cross-reacted with histone H1V, which implied the presence of a common epitope. Anti-histone H1V and H5 also showed cross-reaction with each other but not with histone H1, which implied the presence of a common epitope not shared by histone H1. Immunocytochemical studies, using the above antibodies as probes, showed that histones H3 is present in all steps of spermatogenic and spermiogenic cells, and somatic cells including red blood cells, Sertoli cells, and Leydig cells, while histone H1 is present in all of the cells mentioned except in spermatozoa where it is replaced by histone H1V. Histone H1V appears in the early spermatids starting from spermatid 1 (St1), and it persists throughout the course of spermatid differentiation into spermatozoa. Histone H1V is also found in chromosomes of metaphase spermatocyte and red blood cells. Thus histone H1V may cause the final and complete condensation of chromatin in Rana spermatozoa, a process which is similar to the heterochromatization occurring in somatic cells such as metaphase chromosome and chick erythrocyte nucleus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sirikul Manochantr
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasart University, Rangsit Campus, Patumthanee, Thailand
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Kasinsky H, Gutovich L, Kulak D, Mackay M, Green D, Hunt J, Ausio J. Protamine-like sperm nuclear basic proteins in the primitive frogAscaphus trueiand histone reversions among more advanced frogs. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1999. [DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-010x(19991201)284:7<717::aid-jez1>3.0.co;2-s] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Falco J, Mello M. Critical electrolyte concentration of spermatozoal chromatin containing histone H1 variants. Genet Mol Biol 1999. [DOI: 10.1590/s1415-47571999000200010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The critical electrolyte concentrations (CEC) of sperm chromatin from animal species known or suspected to contain histone H1 variants were compared by examining the affinity of their DNA-protein complexes for toluidine blue in the presence of Mg2+. Bullfrog, sea urchin, bee and bumblebee spermatozoa were studied. The CEC for Rana catesbeiana and two sea urchin species were similar to that of histone H5-containing chromatin from chicken erythrocytes, thus confirming the biochemical and structural similarities of these DNA-protein complexes. The CEC for bees and the bumblebee, Bombus atratus, showed no particular phylogenetic relationship. We concluded that the CEC of histone H1-containing sperm cell chromatin is a useful indicator of variability in DNA-protein complexes but is of little phylogenetic value.
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