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Sporogenesis is the production of spores in biology.The term is also used to refer to the process of reproduction via spores. Reproductive spores were found to be formed in eukaryotic organisms, such as plants, algae and fungi, during their normal reproductive life cycle.
In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. [1] Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants , algae , fungi and protozoa . [ 2 ]
The process of endospore formation has profound morphological and physiological consequences: radical post-replicative remodelling of two progeny cells, accompanied eventually by cessation of metabolic activity in one daughter cell (the spore) and death by lysis of the other (the 'mother cell').
Most non-vascular plants, as well as many lycophytes and most ferns, are homosporous (only one kind of spore is produced). Some lycophytes, such as the Selaginellaceae and Isoetaceae , [ 7 ] : 7 the extinct Lepidodendrales , [ 8 ] and ferns, such as the Marsileaceae and Salviniaceae are heterosporous (two kinds of spores are produced).
Actinomycetales have 2 main forms of reproduction: spore formation and hyphae fragmentation. During reproduction, Actinomycetales can form conidiophores, sporangiospores, and oidiospores. In reproducing through hyphae fragmentation, the hyphae formed by Actinomycetales can be a fifth to half the size of fungal hyphae, and bear long spore chains.
However, both events (spore formation and fertilization) are necessary to complete sexual reproduction in the plant life cycle. Fungi and some algae can also utilize true asexual spore formation, which involves mitosis giving rise to reproductive cells called mitospores that develop into a new organism after dispersal.
Mucor mucedo (type species) use asexual reproduction. When erect hyphal sporangiophores are formed, the tip of the sporangiophore swells to form a globose sporangium that contains uninucleate, haploid sporangiospores.
This may first have led to an increase in spore size and ultimately resulted in the species producing larger megaspores as well as smaller microspores. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Heterospory is advantageous in that having two different types of spores increases the likeliness that plants would successfully produce offspring. [ 7 ]