据介绍，精子染色质中的组蛋白与鱼精蛋白的替代在包括昆虫在内的动物中广泛存在，但其实际功能仍然是个谜。
研究人员发现，在果蝇父系效应突变父系缺失（pal）中，精子染色质在不损害精子活力的情况下保留了全基因组的种系组蛋白H3和H4。然而，受精后，pal精子染色体被卵子染色体客运复合体靶向，并与雌性减数分裂II同步进行灾难性的过早分裂。研究人员发现pal编码一种快速演化的过渡蛋白，该蛋白是在去除H2A-H2B二聚体后从精子DNA中驱逐（H3-H4）2四聚体所需的。
因此，这一研究揭示了组蛋白从昆虫精子染色质中排出的一个未知作用：在雌性减数分裂过程中保护雄性原核的完整性。
附：英文原文
Title: Histone removal in sperm protects paternal chromosomes from premature division at fertilization
Author: Raphalle Dubruille, Marion Herbette, Maxime Revel, Béatrice Horard, Ching-Ho Chang, Benjamin Loppin
Issue&Volume: 2023-11-10
Abstract: The global replacement of histones with protamines in sperm chromatin is widespread in animals, including insects, but its actual function remains enigmatic. We show that in the Drosophila paternal effect mutant paternal loss (pal), sperm chromatin retains germline histones H3 and H4 genome wide without impairing sperm viability. However, after fertilization, pal sperm chromosomes are targeted by the egg chromosomal passenger complex and engage into a catastrophic premature division in synchrony with female meiosis II. We show that pal encodes a rapidly evolving transition protein specifically required for the eviction of (H3-H4)2 tetramers from spermatid DNA after the removal of H2A-H2B dimers. Our study thus reveals an unsuspected role of histone eviction from insect sperm chromatin: safeguarding the integrity of the male pronucleus during female meiosis.
DOI: adh0037
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh0037