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The pollen wall protects the sperm while the pollen grain is moving from the anther to the stigma; it protects the vital genetic material from drying out and solar radiation. The pollen grain surface is covered with waxes and proteins, which are held in place by structures called sculpture elements on the surface of the grain.
SEM image of pollen grains. Sporopollenin is a biological polymer found as a major component of the tough outer (exine) walls of plant spores and pollen grains. It is chemically very stable (one of the most inert among biopolymers) [1] and is usually well preserved in soils and sediments.
Once the pollen grain is recognized and hydrated, the pollen grain germinates to grow a pollen tube. [11] There is competition in this step as many pollen grains may compete to reach the egg. The stigma plays a role in guiding the sperm to a receptive ovule, in the case of many ovules. [11]
The pollen grains are dispersed by the wind to the female, ovulate cone that is made up of many overlapping scales (sporophylls, and thus megasporophylls), each protecting two ovules, each of which consists of a megasporangium (the nucellus) wrapped in two layers of tissue, the integument and the cupule, that were derived from highly modified ...
Tapetum is important for the nutrition and development of pollen grains and a source of precursors for the pollen coat. [1] The cells are usually bigger and normally have more than one nucleus per cell. As the sporogenous cells undergo mitosis, the nuclei of tapetal cells also divide.
The pollen is carried to the pistil of another flower, by wind or animal pollinators, and deposited on the stigma. As the pollen grain germinates, the tube cell produces the pollen tube, which elongates and extends down the long style of the carpel and into the ovary, where its sperm cells are released in the megagametophyte.
Microgametogenesis is the process in plant reproduction where a microgametophyte develops in a pollen grain to the three-celled stage of its development. In flowering plants it occurs with a microspore mother cell inside the anther of the plant.
Each theca contains two microsporangia, also known as pollen sacs. The microsporangia produce the microspores, which for seed plants are known as pollen grains. If the pollen sacs are not adjacent, or if they open separately, then no thecae are formed. In Lauraceae, for example, the pollen sacs are spaced apart and open independently.