Reproduction

Life cycle of Spirogyra

Sexual reproduction occurs when two filaments come together and undergo conjugation. Normally, one filament
consists of male cells; the contents of each cell migrate through a conjugation tube into a female cell in the
adjacent filament. The cell contents fuse, forming a zygote. Here the c ell contents function as gametes. Since
the cells are identical in size this is an example of isogamy.
The zygote develops a thick, pigmented, protective wall to form a zygospore. This structure survives the
unfavourable season at the bottom if the pond, where the parent cell walls rot away. When temperatures again
rise the zygospore nucleus undergoes meiosis, but of the four nuclei produced, three abort. One haploid nucleus
divides mitotically to form a fresh filament, which may be either male or female in its subsequent
conjugation behaviour.
Phylum Filicinophyta (the ferns), Dryopteris
In mature ferns spores are produced on the underside of the leaves, in structures called sori. These consist of
clusters of stalked sporangia, protected by a flap of tissue, the indusium. Meiosis occurs during spore
production. The haploid spores are ejected from the sporangia and are dispersed by the wind. Ferns have just
one type of spore (homosporous), and the leaves bearing the sporangia are often otherwise indistinguishable
from the vegetative leaves.
The spores germinate on soil in moist conditions, and a tiny, heart-shaped plate of cells, the fern
prothallus, is formed. The prothallus bears the sex organs, the antheridia and archegonia which produce sperms
and egg. Fertilisation of sperm and egg produce a zygote which divides and grows into a new sporophyte plant.
Phylum Coniferophyta (conifers)
Life cycle of Pinus
The conifer plant is the sporophyte generation, producing male and female cones on the same tree. Male cones
are small, and consist of numerous scale leaves (microsporophylls) arranged around a central axis, each bearing
two pollen sacs (microsporangia). The pollen grains (microspores) develop large air-filled sacs, which aid in
wind dispersal. Male cones drop from the tree after the pollen has dispersed.
Female cones are larger than the male cones, and they remain attached for three years. On the upper
surface of each megasporophyll are two naked ovules (not enclosed in an ovary). The ovules consist of a mass
of cells arranged around a single megaspore mother cell. During the first year, the mother cell undergoes
meiosis to form four megaspores, only one of which survives. In this condition, pollination occurs. The
surviving megaspore develops into an embryo sac (megagametophyte=female gametophyte) containing two
archegonia. During the second year the pollen grains send out pollen tubes through the ovule tissue, and male
nuclei fuse with the egg cells in the archegonia. As a result two or more embryos start to form in each embryo
sac, but all but one abort. The embryonic plant becomes surrounded by a food store. In the third year the
formation of a winged seed is completed, and the seeds are dispersed before the brown, scaly cones drop from
the tree.
In comparing reproduction in conifers with that in flowering plants, it is possible to see a cone as the
forerunner of the inflorescence of flowering plants.
The life cycle of the flowering plant
Microspores are produced by microsporophylls (stamens). The pollen sacs of the anthers are microporangia,
producing microspores (the pollen grains). The microgametophyte (male gametophyte) in the angiosperms is
reduced to the generative nucleus, and the male gametes are the two male nuclei.
The megaspore is formed within the megasporophyll (carpel). The embryo sac is a megaspore, and the
megagametophyte is reduced to antipodal and synergid cells. The female gamete is the egg cell.