Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 1989 Sep;98(3):153-9.
doi: 10.1007/BF00329678.

DNA loop domains in mammalian spermatozoa

W S Ward  1 , A W Partin, D S Coffey
Affiliations
Comparative Study

DNA loop domains in mammalian spermatozoa

W S Ward et al. Chromosoma. 1989 Sep.

Abstract

The highly condensed and tightly packaged DNA of hamster spermatozoa was found to be organized into topologically constrained DNA loop domains attached at their bases to a nuclear matrix. The loop domains of the sperm nuclei differed from somatic cell loop domains from the same animal in two aspects. Sperm loop domains were 60% smaller than somatic cell loop domains, with an average DNA length of 46 +/- 7 kb in sperm as compared with 76 +/- 11 kb in brain. Secondly, unlike virtually all somatic cell DNA known which is negatively supercoiled, sperm DNA was devoid of detectable supercoiling. The presence of the loop domain structure in the highly condensed DNA of mammalian spermatozoa suggests that this motif is a fundamental aspect of eukaryotic DNA organization.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Cell. 1986 Jan 31;44(2):273-82 - PubMed
    1. J Cell Biol. 1987 Sep;105(3):1105-20 - PubMed
    1. J Cell Sci. 1976 Nov;22(2):303-24 - PubMed
    1. J Biol Chem. 1985 May 10;260(9):5654-9 - PubMed
    1. Cell. 1982 Jan;28(1):99-106 - PubMed

Publication types