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Gametes of both mating individuals can be the same size and shape, a condition known as isogamy. By contrast, in the majority of species, the gametes are of different sizes, a condition known as anisogamy or heterogamy that applies to humans and other mammals. The human ovum has approximately 100,000 times the volume of a single human sperm cell.
Gametogenesis is the formation or production of gametes (taking place during meiosis). The development and maturation of sex cells also takes place during meiosis. Gametogenesis is also the process of formation in male and female gametes that occur in the gonads (ovary and testis). Both male and female produce gametes.
Diagram of a human sperm cell. Sperm (pl.: sperm or sperms) 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 have life cycles with a single diploid multicellular phase that produces haploid gametes directly by meiosis. Male gametes are called sperm, and female gametes are called eggs or ova. In animals, fertilization of the ovum by a sperm results in the formation of a diploid zygote that develops by repeated mitotic divisions into a diploid ...
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 6 January 2025. Procreative biological processes of humanity Part of a series on Sex Biological terms Sexual dimorphism Sexual differentiation Feminization Virilization Sex-determination system XY XO ZW ZO Temperature-dependent Haplodiploidy Heterogametic sex Homogametic sex Sex chromosome X chromosome Y ...
Because both gametes look alike, they generally cannot be classified as male or female. For example, in the green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , there are so-called "plus" and "minus" gametes. A few types of organisms, such as many fungi and the ciliate Paramecium aurelia , [ 11 ] have more than two "sexes", called mating types .
A germ cell is any cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually. In many animals, the germ cells originate in the primitive streak and migrate via the gut of an embryo to the developing gonads. There, they undergo meiosis, followed by cellular differentiation into mature gametes, either eggs or sperm.
The gametes of animals have male and female forms—spermatozoa and egg cells, respectively. These gametes combine to form embryos which develop into new organisms. The male gamete, a spermatozoon (produced in vertebrates within the testes ), is a small cell containing a single long flagellum which propels it. [ 18 ]