Silkworm (Lepidoptera) males produce dimorphic sperm: nucleate eupyrene
sperm and anucleate apyrene sperm. The eupyrene sperm are ordinary sperm to
fertilise the eggs, while the function of apyrene sperm remains
uncertain. After meiosis, 256 sperm cells are enclosed by a layer of cyst
cells, forming a sperm bundle. We have previously documented that the
nucleus of eupyrene sperm anchors to the head cyst cell, which locates at
the anterior apex of the bundle, by an acrosome tubule-basal body
assembly. Neither the basal body attachment to the nucleus nor the acrosome
is seen in apyrene sperm, and the nuclei remain in the middle region of the
bundle. Peristaltic squeezing starts from the anterior of the bundles in
both types of sperm, and cytoplasmic debris of the eupyrene sperm, and both
the nuclei and debris of apyrene sperm, are eliminated at the final stage of
spermatogenesis. Since the irregularity of meiotic division in apyrene
sperm is known, we used triploid silkworm males that show irregular
meiotic division even in eupyrene spermatocytes and are highly sterile. The irregular nuclei of the triploid are discarded by the peristaltic squeezing just as those of the apyrene sperm. Transmission electron microscopic observations disclose the abnormality in the acrosome tubule and in the connection to the basal body. The peristaltic squeezing of sperm bundles in the silkworm appears to be the final control mechanism to eliminate irregular nuclei before they enter female reproductive organs.