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H3K9ac involved in the decondensation of spermatozoal nuclei during spermatogenesis in Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis

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Abstract

As a well-known crustacean model species, the Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis presents spermatozoa with decondensed DNA. Our aim was to analyze structural distribution of the histone H3 and its acetylated lysine 9 (H3K9ac) during spermatogenesis for the mechanistic understanding of the nuclear decondensation of the spermatozoa in E. sinensis. Using specific antibodies, we followed the structural distribution and acetylated lysine 9 of the histone H3 during spermatogenesis, especially spermiogenesis, of E. sinensis. Various spermary samples at different developmental stages were used for histological immunofluorescence and ultrastructural immunocytochemistry. Our results demonstrate a wide distribution of the histone H3 and H3K9ac during spermatogenesis, including spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids, and immature and mature spermatozoa except for absence of H3K9ac in the secondary spermatocytes. Especially during the initial stage of nuclear decondensation, histone H3 lysine 9 was acetylated and then an amount of H3K9ac was removed from within to outside of the nuclei of late spermatids. The portion of remaining H3K9ac was gradually transferred from the nuclei during the stages of spermatozoa maturation. Our findings suggest both the acetylation of histone H3 lysine 9 and the remain of H3K9ac to contribute to the nuclear decondensation in spermatozoa of E. sinensis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to extend our gratitude to my English teacher professor Sarah Regina Peck (Virginia Commonwealth University, USA), reviewers of our manuscript, and Editor in Chief of journal of Cytotechnology Otto-Wilhelm Merten for improvement to the language of this paper. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31260635, 31272309 and 31202000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Basic Medical Sciences, Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, 533000, People’s Republic of China

    Genliang Li, Shiwen Huang, Song Nong, Xiaomin Huang, Hongliu Hu & Ke Sun

  2. College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, 071002, People’s Republic of China

    Xianjiang Kang, Shumei Mu, Mingshen Guo & Qinna Chen

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  1. Genliang Li
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  2. Xianjiang Kang
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  3. Shumei Mu
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  4. Mingshen Guo
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Li, G., Kang, X., Mu, S. et al. H3K9ac involved in the decondensation of spermatozoal nuclei during spermatogenesis in Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis . Cytotechnology 69, 75–87 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-016-0038-3

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