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Prothallus of the tree fern Dicksonia antarctica (note new moss plants for scale) Spore-bearing plants, like all plants, go through a life-cycle of alternation of generations. The fully grown sporophyte, what is commonly referred to as the fern, produces genetically unique spores in the sori by meiosis.
The 'alternation of generations' in the life cycle is thus between a diploid (2n) generation of multicellular sporophytes and a haploid (n) generation of multicellular gametophytes. [17] Gametophyte of the fern Onoclea sensibilis (flat thallus, bottom) with a descendant sporophyte beginning to grow from it (small frond, top)
Three of these independent gametophyte cells degenerate and the one that remains is the gametophyte mother cell which normally contains one nucleus. [24] In general, it will then divide by mitosis until it consists of 8 nuclei separated into 1 egg cell, 3 antipodal cells , 2 synergid cells , and a central cell that contains two nuclei.
Flowchart depicting the phenomenon discovered in Ceratoperis richardii in which antheridiogen exposure influences the growth of a gametophyte starting in its very early stages. The way in which antheridiogen determines sex in ferns is a "spatiotemporally split gibberellin synthesis pathway". [ 7 ]
In the bryophytes (liverworts, mosses, and hornworts), the sexual gametophyte is the dominant generation. In ferns and seed plants (including cycads, conifers, flowering plants, etc.) the sporophyte is the dominant generation; the obvious visible plant, whether a small herb or a large tree, is the sporophyte, and the gametophyte is very small ...
During pollination, this generative cell divides and gives rise to sperm cells. The female counterpart to the antheridium in cryptogams is the archegonium, and in flowering plants is the gynoecium. An antheridium typically consists of sterile cells and spermatogenous tissue. The sterile cells may form a central support structure or surround the ...
Each microspore may develop into a male gametophyte consisting of a somewhat spherical antheridium within the microspore wall. Either 128 or 256 sperm cells with flagella are produced in each antheridium. [3] The only heterosporous ferns are aquatic or semi-aquatic, including the genera Marsilea, Regnellidium, Pilularia, Salvinia, and Azolla.
A protonema (plural: protonemata) is a thread-like chain of cells that forms the earliest stage of development of the gametophyte (the haploid phase) in the life cycle of mosses. When a moss first grows from a spore , it starts as a germ tube , which lengthens and branches into a filamentous complex known as a protonema , which develops into a ...