Chromatin structure of telomere domain in human sperm

Telomeres in human sperm nucleus are clustered at the nuclear periphery. Chromosomes in the sperm are highly condensed with protamines, however, a small portion of DNA remains associated with histones; the role of the nucleohistone is unknown. To examine structure of the telomeric chromatin, the sperm nuclei were treated with micrococcal nuclease. Chromatin released by the digestion was free from protamines, but contained histones and revealed nucleosomal organization. It was enriched with telomeric DNA organized into closely spaced nucleosomes with a periodicity of 148 +/- bp. Thus, while the most of the sperm genome is packed into extremely dense nucleoprotamine structure, at least a part of the telomeric DNA is arranged into nucleosomes and can be released by the nuclease. We suggest that telomeres might be among the first structures in the sperm nucleus that respond to oocyte signals for male pronucleus development at fertilization. (C) 2000 Academic Press.