MICROSPORE

Microspore

Microspores are land plant spores that develop into male gametophytes, whereas megaspores develop into female gametophytes. The male gametophyte gives rise to sperm cells, which are used for fertilization of an egg cell to form a zygote. Microspores are structures that are part of the alternation of generations in many seedless vascular cryptogams, all gymnosperms and all angiosperms. Plants with heterosporous life cycles using microspores and megaspores arose independently in several plant groups during the Devonian period. Microspores are haploid, and are produced from diploid microsporocytes by meiosis.

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microspore

Noun

  1. Smaller of the two spores produced by plants, compare megaspore.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: microspore
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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