Quantification of actively transcribing RNA polymerase B molecules in human sperm chromatin and the effect of prostaglandin E1.

ABSTRACT

Run-on transcription experiments with sonicated chromatin from spermatozoa of healthy men revealed the presence of in vitro transcription. The number of actively transcribing RNA polymerase B molecules in sperm chromatin in vitro, isolated from healthy individuals, and the effect of prostaglandin El, were investigated. The results indicate that the number of RNA polymerase B molecules actively engaged in transcription increased one and a half times when 5 units of prostaglandin E1 was added to the reaction mixtures. These results correlate well with the authors' previous findings that the incorporation of labelled uridine triphosphate into pre-mRNA was higher when prostaglandin E1 was added to the reaction mixtures in run-on transcription experiments, and when sperm chromatin from healthy individuals was used as a template.