Sporadic appearance of histones, histone-like proteins, and protamines in sperm chromatin of bony fish

1. 
   Núria Saperas^1,2,
   
2. 
   Domènec Lloris¹,
   
3. 
   Manel Chiva^2,*
   

DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402650514

Copyright © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company

Issue

Journal of Experimental Zoology

Volume 265, Issue 5, pages 575–586, 1 April 1993

Saperas, N., Lloris, D. and Chiva, M. (1993), Sporadic appearance of histones, histone-like proteins, and protamines in sperm chromatin of bony fish. Journal of Experimental Zoology, 265: 575–586. doi: 10.1002/jez.1402650514

In this work we study the presence and the composition of 24 species of bony fish, representing 18 families and 7 orders of teleosts. The species studied belonging to orders Clupeiformes and Lophiiformes display typical protamines, whereas the species belonging to orders Notacanthi-formes, Gadiformes, and Ophiidiformes contain histones instead of protamines in their sperm nuclei. In these species, one or more specific proteins are added to the pattern of canonical histones and, in the cases that have been analysed compositionally (Merluccius capensis, Cataetyx laticeps), the specific proteins seem to be related to histones. Among the order Scorpaeniformes, the species Helicolenus dactylopterus (family Scorpaenidae) presents protamines, whereas Trigla lucerna (family Triglidae) contains histones. Similarly, among the order Perciformes, the species from six families (Percichthyidae, Labridae, Trachinidae, Uranoscopidae, Gempylidae, and Scombridae) have protamines in sperm nuclei and species from two families (Sparidae and Trichiuridae) retain histones and increase the proportion of H1 histone approximately twofold. Two species of Mullus (family Mullidae, order Perciformes) display special proteins with an electrophoretic behaviour corresponding to histone H4 but an amino acid composition more basic.