Summary
Pre- and postmeiotic stages of male gametogenesis of 10 different vertebrate species belonging to mammals, birds, amphibians, and fishes were subjected to the Ag-AS staining technique (Goodpasture and Bloom, 1975). A uniform pattern of silver-staining is observable during spermatogenesis of the different vertebrate species. Silver-staining is present in spermatogonia and during the whole period of meiotic prophase, but totally absent during diakinesis and metaphase II of meiosis. In early spermatids silver-staining reappears and only disappears around the beginning of elongation of the spermatid nucleus. Since the Ag-AS technique is believed to stain only transcriptionally active nucleolus organizer regions, our findings indicate that ribosomal RNA genes become reactivated in the haploid spermatid.
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Schmid, M., Hofgärtner, F.J., Zenzes, M.T. et al. Evidence for postmeiotic expression of ribosomal RNA genes during male gametogenesis. Hum. Genet. 38, 279–284 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402153
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402153