PERPETUATION OF LIFE

Reproduction

 Is a biological process in which an organism gives rise to young ones similar to itself.

Two Classifications of Reproduction

1. Asexual Reproduction
 Does not involve fusion of cells (sex)
 Requires only one parent
 Offsprings known as clones are genetically identical to parents
2. Sexual Reproduction – involves fusion and sex cells to form zygote.
 Involves fusion of two sex cells to form a zygote
 Usually requires two parents
 Offsprings show variations are not the exact copy of the parents

Angiosperms – also called as flowering plants, have seeds enclosed within an ovary

Gymnosperms – have unenclosed or naked seeds on the surface of their leaves or scales

Male Reproductive Parts of the Plants

 Stamen – the male reproductive organ

 Anther – produces pollen, which contains the male sperm cells
 Filament – holds or supports the anther
 Pollen grains – are the male reproductive cells

Female Reproductive Parts of the Plants

 Pistil – is made up of stigma, the style and the ovary

 Style – is a slender stalk that supports the stigma
 Stigma – is the sticky part that receives the pollen
 Ovary – the basal sac that contains the ovules
 Ovules – the female reproductive cells

Asexual Reproduction in Plants

 Natural Vegetative Production – type of reproduction in plants from its vegetative parts / specialized
reproductive structures.
Stolons - reproduction by means of runners or long slender stems.
Rhizomes – underground stems that allow some plants to form a network and produce
their kind
Tubers - are specialized for storage and reproduction. Example : Potato
Suckers/ Sprouts – gives rise to new plants; produced in the roots of some plants
 Artificial Plant Propagation – asexual reproduction practiced with a little help of human.
 Grafting – involves attaching a piece of stem from one plant to a root bearing stem of
another plant.
 Cutting – it involves planting a young cutting of the stem with buds into moist soil
 Layering – this involves bending of a young stem towards the ground and let it grow
under the soil for the development of roots.
 Tissue culture – growth of plant tissues in an artificial liquid/solid culture media,
provides an alternative means to grow new plants in most numbers.

Sexual Reproduction on Plants

1 Fertilization - takes place when the sperm (germinated pollen) unites with the egg (ovule) forming a
fertilized egg called a zygote.

During double fertilization - the pollen grain enters the ovary and releases two sperm cells.

2. Pollination - unites the male and female reproductive cells or gametes. It takes place when the
pollen grains from the male anther are transferred to the female stigma.

Types of Pollination

 Autogamy is a type of pollination where pollen grains are transferred to the stigma of the
same flower.
 Geitonogamy is a type of pollination where pollen grains are transferred to the stigma
of another flower of the same plant.
 Xenogamy, also called cross-pollination, is a type of pollination where pollen grains are
transferred to the stigma of a different plant.
 3. Seed Dispersal – since they are not mobile, plants employ several mechanisms to disperse themselves
and separate the parents from offsprings.
4. Germination – the process in which a new plants grows from a seed.

Reproduction in Animals

Asexual Reproduction
1. Fission is a type of asexual reproduction wherein two individuals will form as the parent divides
in half.
2. Fragmentation, the breaking of body parts into fragments, is always followed by regeneration
and regrowth of lost parts.
3. Budding - is when an outgrowth called a bud grows and develops from the parent animal and
would eventually separate to become a new individual.
4. Parthenogenesis – gives rise to complete offspring from unfertilized egg

Sexual Reproduction
1. Fertilization – is the union of the egg cell and sperm cell.
Types of Fertilization
 External fertilization - the union of egg and sperm occurs outside the female reproductive tract. This is
common among most species of bony fish and amphibians. Internal Fertilization

 Internal fertilization - the union of egg and sperm occurs within the female reproductive tract.

2. Gametogenesis – the process where testes produce male gametes, while ovaries produce the female
gametes.

How genes work?

 DNA contains the genetic information of almost all living organisms.

 The nucleotide consists of deoxyribose and a phosphate group.
 There are four nucleotides in a DNA: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C).
 Genes are short segments of DNA that are the basic units of heredity.
 Replication refers to the process of copying one DNA to produce two identical DNA molecules.
 Transcription is the process by which the genetic information in the DNA strand is transcribed to the
messenger RNA (mRNA).
 Translation is the process wherein protein molecules are assembled from the information encoded in
mRNA.