Deoxyribonucleic Acid Content of Ovarian Cells in Artemia salina

Abstract

IN the ovary of Artemia salina, some oocytes undergo a peculiar transformation¹. After the primary growth period, numerous granules giving a positive Feulgen reaction appear in the nucleus, fuse into clumps, and finally give rise to a large homogeneous droplet of strongly Feulgen-positive material. This droplet is expelled into the cytoplasm through a hole in the nuclear membrane. The nucleus remains as a clear vesicle containing nucleoli and ribonucleic granules but devoid of deoxyribonucleic acid. Finally, the droplet is expelled from the cell and disappears entirely. This process appears to be very different from common pycnosis and caryorhexis. It is, so far as we know, the only case where deoxyribonucleic acid is expelled as a whole into the cytoplasm, while the other components of the nucleus remain apparently unchanged.