Migration of centromere proteins in rabbit spermatids

Human autoantibodies were used to localize centromere proteins by immunoelectron microscopy, immunofluorescence, and confocal microscopy in isolated cells and in cryosections of rabbit testis. A computer‐assisted three‐dimensional reconstruction of the positions and sizes of fluorescent spots allowed us to follow their movements during the different phases of spermiogenesis. In very young spermatids, the centromeres were distributed within a space separated from both the external nuclear limits and the nuclear core. They moved towards the nuclear limits and the nuclear core. They moved towards the nuclear center in cap phase spermatids, where they clustered into a few large centromeric masses. In preelcngating spermatids, the immunolabeled proteins were dispersed within an equatorial area, where they formed one large mass. In late spermatids, the mass moved towards the posterior part of the nucleus, and, in the spermatozoon, the two basal knobs located at the base of the nuclei were the only strongly immunolabeled structures, while no labeling of the main part of the nucleus was observed. Since the number of centromeres remained close to the number of chromosomes until the cap phase of spermatid differentiation, we hypothesize that the labeling of young spermatids corresponds to centromeric proteins associated with their specific DNA counterparts, while the centromere proteins, possibly detached from their DNA loci, were released from nuclei of old spermatids in the same way as are histones and transition proteins.