Embryological studies in the compositae. II. Sporogenesis, Gametogenesis, and Embryogeny in Ammobium alatum R. Br.

1962 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 65 ◽  
Author(s):  
GL Davis

Ammobium alatum is a perennial herb whose discoid-homogarnous capitula are surrounded by several rows of involucral bracts with white radiating laminae. Four microsporangia are present in each anther and their development and dehiscence are described. The ovule is anatropous, unitegmic, and tenuinucellate. The archesporial cell is hypodermal in origin and, following considerable increase in size, it functions directly as the megaspore mother cell. Cytokinesis and wall formation are postponed until after Meiosis 11 and a dyad is formed in which each cell is binucleate. The embryo sac is bisporic and its development is a variation of the Allium type. After fertilization, the surviving synergid may increase greatly in size but it does not extend into the micropyle and it collapses when the embryo reaches the seventh cell generation. Embryogeny is of the Asterad type and the sequence of events leading up to maturation of the embryo and of the fruit is described.

1962 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
GL Davis

Cotula australis has a discoid heterogamous capitulum in which the outermost three whorls of florets are female and naked. The bisexual disk florets are fully fertile and have a four-lobed corolla with four shortly epipetalous stamens. The anthers contain only two microsporangia. Wall formation and microsporogenesis are described and the pollen grains are shed at the three-celled condition. The ovule is teguinucellate and the hypodermal archesporial cell develops directly as the megaspore mother cell. Megasporogenesis is normal and the monosporio embryo sac develops from the chalazal megaspore. Breakdown of the nucellar epidermis takes place when the embryo sac is binucleate and its subsequent development follows the Polygonum type. The synergids extend deeply into the micropyle and one persists until late in embryogeny as a haustorium. The development of the embryo is of the Asterad type, and the endosperm is cellular. C. coronopifolia agrees with C. australis in the presence of only two microsporangia in each anther and the development of a synergid haustorium.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie H. Tsai ◽  
Patricia M. Harney ◽  
R. L. Peterson

The ovary of Pelargonium × hortorum contains five pairs of superposed ovules in five locules. These ovules are bitegmic and crassinucellar and the upper ovule of each pair is campylotropous while the lower one is anatropous. A single archesporial cell functions directly as the megaspore mother cell. Meiotic division of the megaspore mother cell results in the formation of a linear tetrad of megaspores of which the chalazal megaspore is functional. Embryo sac development is of the polygonum type. Rapid degeneration of the three antipodals occurs followed by the fusion of the two polar nuclei. Therefore, the mature embryo sac contains the egg, the two synergids, and the fused polar nucleus. Double fertilization takes place. Ninety-two percent of the fertilized ovules of P. × hortorum cv. ‘Purple Heart’ are found in the upper position.The two integuments are initiated before the differentiation of the archesporial cell. Cells of the outer layer of the outer integument and the inner layer of the inner integument deposit tannins. The nucellus develops through divisions of the parietal cells of the nucellar epidermal cells.


Development ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Siddiqi ◽  
G. Ganesh ◽  
U. Grossniklaus ◽  
V. Subbiah

In higher plants the gametophyte consists of a gamete in association with a small number of haploid cells, specialized for sexual reproduction. The female gametophyte or embryo sac, is contained within the ovule and develops from a single cell, the megaspore which is formed by meiosis of the megaspore mother cell. The dyad mutant of Arabidopsis, described herein, represents a novel class among female sterile mutants in plants. dyad ovules contain two large cells in place of an embryo sac. The two cells represent the products of a single division of the megaspore mother cell followed by an arrest in further development of the megaspore. We addressed the question of whether the division of the megaspore mother cell in the mutant was meiotic or mitotic by examining the expression of two markers that are normally expressed in the megaspore mother cell during meiosis. Our observations indicate that in dyad, the megaspore mother cell enters but fails to complete meiosis, arresting at the end of meiosis 1 in the majority of ovules. This was corroborated by a direct observation of chromosome segregation during division of the megaspore mother cell, showing that the division is a reductional and not an equational one. In a minority of dyad ovules, the megaspore mother cell does not divide. Pollen development and male fertility in the mutant is normal, as is the rest of the ovule that surrounds the female gametophyte. The embryo sac is also shown to have an influence on the nucellus in wild type. The dyad mutation therefore specifically affects a function that is required in the female germ cell precursor for meiosis. The identification and analysis of mutants specifically affecting female meiosis is an initial step in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying early events in the pathway of female reproductive development.


2017 ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Marcelina García-Aguilar ◽  
E. Mark Engleman ◽  
Eulogio Pimienta-Barrios

The genus Tagetes reproduces sexually by seed, but recent morphological and hybridization studies in Tagetes patula suggest an apomictic type of reproduction (seed development without fertilization). In order to determine the sexual or apomictic origen of the embryo, we have studied megasporogenesis, megagametogenesis and the early development of the embryo. Tagetes patula L. has a typical ovule for the family Asteraceae: anatropous, unitegmic, tenuinucellate and with basal placentation. A single hypodermal archesporial cell develops directly as the megaspore mother cell. Megaspogenesis is normal and embryo sac develops from the chalazal megaspore. The embryo sac is of the Polygonum type. Female ray flowers show irregularities in megagametophyte development such as formation of more than eight nuclei, inverted polarity and incomplete differentiation of the megagametophyte cells in mature flowers. These irregularities do not necessarily prove apomictic reproduction in Tagetes patula.


2003 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle A. Murphy

Nomenclatural and taxonomic problems are common among members of the tribe Triticeae and in particular the genus Elymus L. For the Australian representatives of this genus, confusion surrounds the number of taxa present, and which literature belongs to which 'taxon'. The literature indicates at least four major taxa: (1) long-awned forms of E. scaber var. scaber equated to E. rectisetus, (2) shorter-awned forms of E. scaber var. scaber, (3) the very short-awned E. multiflorus and (4) E. scaber var. plurinervis. In addition, a form intermediate between the long- and short-awned forms of E. scaber, as well as populations containing polymorphic forms have been reported. A recent taxonomic treatment of the species complex identified a fifth taxon, E. sp. A. This taxon has previously been identified as E. scaber or E. multiflorus. The current study examined 500 pistils from megaspore mother cell to mature embryo sac, somatic and haploid chromosome numbers, and seed set of nine populations of E. scaber var. scaber sensu lato (common wheatgrass). They included forms equating to E. rectisetus, E. scaber and E. sp. A, a population with intermediate characteristics, and three polymorphic populations. Taxon (1) above is apomictic; taxon (2) contains two entities, one a facultative apomict encompassing the intermediate and polymorphic populations, and the other, the sexual E. sp. A. Exclusive sexuality was also confirmed for material of (3) and (4).


1970 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 213 ◽  
Author(s):  
IC Beltran

Ovule development, embryo sac formation, and embryogeny of I. Petraea are described. The ovules are anatropous, unitegmic, and tenuinucellar. Meiosis in the megaspore mother cell is regular and the chromosomes with terminalized chiasmata form ring bivalents at metaphase 1. The Polygonum type embryo sac, Scutellaria type endosperm development, and Solanad embryo formation correspond with development patterns in other members of the Lobeliaceae.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 879-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Newcomb

The degeneration of one synergid denotes the initiation of embryo and endosperm development in the embryo sac of sunflower Helianthus annuus L. The other synergid, the persistent synergid, is present until the late globular stage of embryogenesis. The primary endosperm nucleus divides before the zygote nucleus forming a coenocytic nuclear endosperm. When about eight endosperm nuclei are present during the early globular stage of embryogenesis, endosperm wall formation starts at the micropylar end of the embryo sac. The walls continue to grow toward the chalazal end of the embryo sac apparently as a result of the activity of Golgi located at the tips of the growing walls. Most endosperm wall formation is not associated with a mitotic spindle apparatus in sunflower. The suspensor of the embryo consists of a large basal cell during the proembryo stages, a single row of cells during the early globular stages, and at the late globular stage a double tier of cells near the radicle end of the embryo and a single row at the micropylar end of the embryo sac. Occasionally embryo development occurs in the absence of endosperm when only single fertilization has taken place. The development and nutritional implications of post-fertilization events in the sunflower embryo sac are discussed.


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