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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.
Orbicules (syn. Ubisch bodies, con-peito grains) are small acellular structures of sporopollenin that might occur on the inner tangential and radial walls of tapetal cells. The ornamentation of the orbicule surface often resembles that of the pollen sexine. Different hypotheses about their function have been proposed, including them just being ...
This creates a 2 or 3 celled male gametophyte which becomes known as the pollen grain once dehiscing occurs. [18] One cell is the tube cell, and the remaining cell/cells are the sperm cells. [ 19 ] The development of the three celled male gametophyte prior to dehiscing has evolved multiple times and is present in about a third of angiosperm ...
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.
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.
When a pollen grain adheres to the stigma of a carpel it germinates, developing a pollen tube that grows through the tissues of the style, entering the ovule through the micropyle. When the tube reaches the egg sac, two sperm cells pass through it into the female gametophyte and fertilisation takes place.
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.
The microsporangia of gymnosperms develop in pairs toward the bases of the scales, which are therefore called microsporophylls. Each of the microsporocytes in the microsporangia undergoes meiosis, producing four haploid microspores. These develop into pollen grains, each consisting of four cells and, in conifers, a pair of external air sacs.