BRAINCAKEFormation of Plant Egg Cells
The female gamete of a flowering plant, the egg cell, forms inside an ovule in the ovary of the carpel. Each ovule contains a mass of tissue (the nucellus) surrounded by protective layers called integuments, which leave a small gap at one end, the micropyle.
The stages are:
• One large diploid cell in the nucellus, the megaspore mother cell (2n), divides by meiosis to produce four haploid cells.
• Three of these degenerate. The one that survives, the megaspore (n), grows to form the embryo sac.
• The nucleus of the embryo sac divides by mitosis three times, giving 23 = 8 haploid nuclei.
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More in Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction
- The Male Gamete
- The Female Gamete
- Gametogenesis in Plants
- Formation of Pollen
- Pollination
- Internal Fertilisation
- External Fertilisation
- Fertilisation in Humans
All 28 lessons in Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics