Rearrangements of chromatin structure during spermatogenesis of squid

A stepwise replacement of somatic histones on sperm-specific proteins (we have termed them illexines I1 and I2) is found to occur during spermatogenesis of squid Illex argentinus [Kadura, S.N. and Khrapunov, S.N. (1988) Eur. J. Biochem. 175, 603-607]. The chromatin from nuclei of squid immature testes has a nucleosomal DNA repeat which corresponds to the nucleosomal repeat of calf thymus chromatin (195 +/- 5 bp). As spermatozoa become mature and illexine I2 accumulates in the chromatin, the nucleosomal structure of the latter disappears and chromatin compacting takes place. The chromatin DNA from squid spermatozoa is highly resistant to micrococcal nuclease action. Spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry were to establish that neither illexine I1 nor illexine I2 forms a globular structure in solution under any conditions studied. Illexine I2 (approx. 7 kDa) shows a high affinity to DNA and remains bound to it under conditions when complexes of illexine I1 (approx. 9 kDa) and salmine (approx. 4.5 kDa) with DNA completely dissociate. This fact, allowing for a similar content (about 75%) of arginine in illexine I2 and salmine, suggests high clustering of arginine residues in the composition of illexine I2. It is suggested that the initial stage of histone substitution with illexine I1, which has a more moderate affinity to DNA than illexine I2, prepares chromatin for the formation of a highly packed structure by illexine I2 during squid spermatogenesis.