Chromatin reorganization in rat spermatids during the disappearance of testis-specific histone, H1t, and the appearance of transition proteins TP1 and TP2.

Transition proteins replace testis-specific histones and are finally replaced by protamines in the nucleus of germ cells during spermiogenesis. In this study, immunoperoxidase and immunogold localization were used to determine both qualitatively and quantitatively the intracellular distribution of testis-specific histone (H1t), transition protein 1(TP1), and transition protein 2 (TP2) during rat spermatogenesis. H1t labeling was concentrated over heterochromatin in the nucleus of late-pachytene spermatocytes and spermatids up to mid-steps 10. In step 9 spermatids, H1t was confined to the caudal end of the nucleus where heterochromatin was still present, while in early step 10 spermatids, only a few of the nuclei remained caudally labeled. In late step 10 spermatids, a fibrillar chromatin network was distributed throughout the nucleus coincident with the loss of H1t. A statistically significant rise in TP1 and TP2 labeling density over control values was first encountered in the nucleus of step 11 spermatids coincident with the initiation of condensation of the fibrillar chromatin. The TP1 and TP2 labeling density progressively increased in nucleus of step 11-13 spermatids with the apical to caudal condensation of the fibrillar chromatin, In step 13 spermatids, the chromatin was homogeneously condensed throughout the nucleus. In the case of TP1, the nuclear labeling density gradually declined after step 13 and disappeared by step 17. In the case of TP2, the nuclear labeling density disappeared by step 16. This study shows that, coincident with the loss of H1t, the chromatin of the spermatid is reorganized into a fibrillar network, whereas, coincident with the appearance and progressive increase of TP1 and TP2, the fibrillar chromatin condenses in an apical to caudal direction in the nucleus of the spermatid. Thus the remodeling of chromatin structure during spermiogenesis appears to be a two-step process that is sequentially influenced by the loss of spermatid-specific histones and the appearance of transition proteins.