Andraszek Katarzyna, Gryzińska Magdalena, Wójcik Ewa, Knaga Sebastian, Smalec Elżbieta
Folia Biol (Krakow). 2014;62(4):293-300. doi: 10.3409/fb62_4.293.
Nucleoli are the product of the activity of nucleolar organizer regions (NOR) in certain chromosomes. Their main functions are the formation of ribosomal subunits from ribosomal protein molecules and the transcription of genes encoding rRNA. The aim of the study was to determine the shape of nucleoli and analyse methylation in the gene RN28S in the spermatocytes of male Japanese quail (Coturnixjaponica) in two age groups. Nucleoli were analysed in cells of the first meiotic prophase. Their number and shape were determined and they were classified as regular, irregular or defragmented. In the cells of the young birds no defragmented nucleoli were observed, with regular and irregular nucleoli accounting for 97% and 3%, respectively. In the cells of older birds no regular nucleoli were observed, while irregular and defragmented nucleoli accounted for 37% and 67%, respectively. MSP (methylation-specific PCR) showed that the gene RN28S is methylated in both 15-week-old and 52-week-old quails. In recent years an association has been established between nucleolus morphology and cellular ageing processes.
核仁是某些染色体上核仁组织区（NOR）活动的产物。它们的主要功能是由核糖体蛋白质分子形成核糖体亚基以及转录编码rRNA的基因。本研究的目的是确定两个年龄组雄性日本鹌鹑（Coturnix japonica）精母细胞中核仁的形状，并分析RN28S基因的甲基化情况。在第一次减数分裂前期的细胞中分析核仁。确定它们的数量和形状，并将其分类为规则、不规则或碎片化。在幼鸟的细胞中未观察到碎片化核仁，规则核仁和不规则核仁分别占97%和3%。在成年鸟的细胞中未观察到规则核仁，而不规则核仁和碎片化核仁分别占37%和67%。甲基化特异性PCR（MSP）表明，RN28S基因在15周龄和52周龄的鹌鹑中均发生甲基化。近年来，已确定核仁形态与细胞衰老过程之间存在关联。
