Editor's Summary

23 July 2009

Sperm epigenetics: paternal influence?

During sperm development the histones that normally associate with DNA to package it into chromatin are largely exchanged for protamines, small proteins that form tight-packed DNA structures needed for normal sperm function. Thus nucleosomes, the histone-containing repeat units in chromatin, are notably rare in sperm. Rare but, according to a study utilizing high-resolution genomic techniques to localize the nucleosomes retained in mature human sperm, potentially important. The few remaining nucleosomes are significantly enriched at developmentally critical genes, and have distinctive histone modification patterns. This raises the possibility that they are retained in order to perform an epigenetic function in the embryo.

Article: Distinctive chromatin in human sperm packages genes for embryo development

Saher Sue Hammoud, David A. Nix, Haiying Zhang, Jahnvi Purwar, Douglas T. Carrell & Bradley R. Cairns

doi:10.1038/nature08162

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (402K) | Supplementary information