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They have exosporic gametophytes — that is, the gametophyte is free-living and develops outside of the spore wall. Exosporic gametophytes can either be bisexual, capable of producing both sperm and eggs in the same thallus , or specialized into separate male and female organisms (dioicous).
It is the biological process of gametogenesis during which cells that are haploid or diploid divide to create other cells. It can take place either through mitotic or meiotic division of diploid gametocytes into different cells depending on an organism's biological life cycle. For instance, gametophytes in plants undergo mitosis to produce gametes.
The mitosis process in the cells of eukaryotic organisms follows a similar pattern, but with variations in three main details. "Closed" and "open" mitosis can be distinguished on the basis of nuclear envelope remaining intact or breaking down. An intermediate form with partial degradation of the nuclear envelope is called "semiopen" mitosis.
Antheridia and archegonia occur on different gametophytes, which are then called dioicous. The moss Mnium hornum has the gametophyte as the dominant generation. It is dioicous: male plants produce only antheridia in terminal rosettes, female plants produce only archegonia in the form of stalked capsules. [26] Seed plant gametophytes are also ...
These spores then germinate and divide by mitosis to form a haploid multicellular phase, the gametophyte, which produces gametes directly by mitosis. This type of life cycle, involving alternation between two multicellular phases, the sexual haploid gametophyte and asexual diploid sporophyte, is known as alternation of generations .
The gametophytes produce both motile sperm in the antheridia and egg cells in separate archegonia. After rains or when dew deposits a film of water, the motile sperm are splashed away from the antheridia, which are normally produced on the top side of the thallus, and swim in the film of water to the antheridia where they fertilize the egg.
The microspore divides by mitosis producing two cells. The first of the cells (the generative cell) is small and is formed inside the second larger cell (the tube cell). The members of each part of the microspores separate from each other. A double-layered wall then develops around each microspore.
The sporophyte creates spores via meiosis which also then divide mitotically producing haploid individuals called gametophytes. The gametophytes produce gametes via mitosis. In some plants the gametophyte is not only small-sized but also short-lived; in other plants and many algae, the gametophyte is the "dominant" stage of the life cycle. [19]