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The development of the three celled male gametophyte prior to dehiscing has evolved multiple times and is present in about a third of angiosperm species allowing for faster fertilization after pollination. [20] Once pollination occurs, the tube cell grows in size and if the male gametophyte is only 2 cells at this stage, the single sperm cell ...
It is dioicous: male plants produce only antheridia in terminal rosettes, female plants produce only archegonia in the form of stalked capsules. [26] Seed plant gametophytes are also dioicous. However, the parent sporophyte may be monoecious, producing both male and female gametophytes or dioecious, producing gametophytes of one gender only.
Various plant groups have differing methods by which the gametes produced by the male and female gametophytes come together and are fertilised. In bryophytes and pteridophytic land plants, fertilisation of the sperm and egg takes place within the archegonium. In seed plants, the male gametophyte is formed within a pollen grain.
There are two key differences between mammalian and plant gametogenesis. First, there is no predetermined germline in plants. Male or female gametophyte-producing cells diverge from the reproductive meristem, a totipotent clump of developing cells in the adult plant that creates all the flower's features (both sexual and asexual structures).
In order for fertilization to occur, there is rapid tip growth in pollen tubes which delivers the male gametes into the ovules. A pollen tube consists of three different regions: the apex which is the growth region, the subapex which is the transition region, and the shank which acts like normal plant cells with the specific organelles.
The gametophyte is the multicellular structure (plant) that is haploid, containing a single set of chromosomes in each cell. The gametophyte produces male or female gametes (or both), by a process of cell division, called mitosis. In vascular plants with separate gametophytes, female gametophytes are known as mega gametophytes (mega=large, they ...
Embryogenesis occurs naturally as a result of single, or double fertilization, of the ovule, giving rise to two distinct structures: the plant embryo and the endosperm which go on to develop into a seed. [8] The zygote goes through various cellular differentiations and divisions in order to produce a mature embryo.
In seed plants the microspores develop into pollen grains each containing a reduced, multicellular male gametophyte. [5] The megaspores, in turn, develop into reduced female gametophytes that produce egg cells that, once fertilized, develop into seeds.