Table 1. Sperm activation and nuclear anatomy.

Male dissected in	Sperm morphology		Nuclear anatomy
SM1 buffer	Spermatids	Spermatozoa	Normal	Tiny	Double
Triple mutant	145	0	141	2	2
him-8	162	0	159	1	2
SM1 + Pronase*
Triple mutant	15	116
him-8	6	154

Sperm phenotypes were examined in the triple mutant, spe-47(zq27); spe-50(ttTi4488); him-8(e1489) with him-8(e1489) as the control when both were reared at 25°C. In SM1 buffer alone, dissected virgin males release only inactive spermatids. In 200 μg/ml Pronase in SM1, spermatids activate to crawling spermatozoa. The gross anatomy of sperm nuclei was examined in the worms dissected in SM1, which also contained nuclear label Hoechst 33342 at 20μg/ml.

*A G-test of independence was performed on the data from Pronase activation: P = 0.011; G = 6.456.