Gamete attachment process revealed in flowering plant fertilization.

ABSTRACT: Sex-possessing organisms perform sexual reproduction, in which gametes from different sexes fuse to produce offspring. In most eukaryotes, one or both sex gametes are motile, and gametes actively approach each other to fuse. However, in flowering plants, the gametes of both sexes lack motility. Two sperm cells (male gametes) that are contained in a pollen grain are recessively delivered via pollen tube elongation. After the pollen tube bursts, sperm cells are released toward the egg and central cells (female gametes) within an ovule ( Fig. 1 ). The precise mechanism of sperm cell movement after the pollen tube bursts remains unknown. Ultimately, one sperm cell fuses with the egg cell and the other one fuses with the central cell, producing an embryo and an endosperm, respectively. Fertiliz

SUBMITTER: Mori T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4623237 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature