The spermatid is the

haploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respective ...

male

gametid A gametid is a complementary gamete to the gamete that gives rise to a zygote after conception. During meiosis, four gametes, or haploid cells, are the products of diploid cell division. Two gametes, one egg and one sperm, unite during conception, ...

that results from division of secondary spermatocytes. As a result of

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately ...

, each spermatid contains only half of the genetic material present in the original primary spermatocyte. Spermatids are connected by cytoplasmic material and have superfluous cytoplasmic material around their nuclei. When formed, ''early round spermatids'' must undergo further maturational events to develop into

spermatozoa A spermatozoon (; also spelled spermatozoön; ; ) is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. A spermatozoon joins an ovum to form a zygote. (A zygote is a single cell, with a complete set of chromos ...

, a process termed

spermiogenesis Spermiogenesis is the final stage of spermatogenesis, during which the spermatids develop into mature spermatozoa. At the beginning of the stage, the spermatid is a more or less circular cell containing a nucleus, Golgi apparatus, centriole an ...

(also termed ''spermeteliosis''). The spermatids begin to grow a living thread, develop a thickened mid-piece where the

mitochondria A mitochondrion (; ) is an organelle found in the cells of most Eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...

become localised, and form an acrosome. Spermatid DNA also undergoes packaging, becoming highly condensed. The DNA is packaged firstly with specific nuclear basic proteins, which are subsequently replaced with protamines during spermatid elongation. The resultant tightly packed

chromatin Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important ...

is transcriptionally inactive. In 2016 scientists at Nanjing Medical University claimed they had produced cells resembling mouse spermatids artificially from

stem cells In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of ...

. They injected these spermatids into mouse eggs and produced pups.

DNA repair

As postmeiotic

germ cell Germ or germs may refer to: Science * Germ (microorganism), an informal word for a pathogen * Germ cell, cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually * Germ layer, a primary layer of cells that forms during embr ...

s develop to mature

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, ...

they progressively lose the ability to repair

DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as radiation can cause DNA d ...

that may then accumulate and be transmitted to the

zygote A zygote (, ) is a eukaryotic cell formed by a fertilization event between two gametes. The zygote's genome is a combination of the DNA in each gamete, and contains all of the genetic information of a new individual organism. In multicell ...

and ultimately the embryo. In particular, the repair of DNA double-strand breaks by the

non-homologous end joining Non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) is a pathway that repairs double-strand breaks in DNA. NHEJ is referred to as "non-homologous" because the break ends are directly ligated without the need for a homologous template, in contrast to homology direc ...

pathway, although present in round spermatids, appears to be lost as they develop into elongated spermatids.

Additional images

File:Gray's 7 (ovum maturation).svg, Scheme showing analogies in the process of maturation of the

ovum The egg cell, or ovum (plural ova), is the female reproductive cell, or gamete, in most anisogamous organisms (organisms that reproduce sexually with a larger, female gamete and a smaller, male one). The term is used when the female gamete i ...

and the development of the Genyo spermatids (young

)

References

External links

* - "Male Reproductive System: testis, early spermatids" * - "Male Reproductive System: testis, late spermatids"
Histology at okstate.edu
{{Male reproductive system Reproductive system Germ cells Andrology