How does a gametophyte reproduce?

How does a gametophyte reproduce?

A gametophyte is created when the sporophyte generation produces spores. Spores are made by meiosis or cell division that reduces the number of chromosomes by half. These haploid cells produced by sporophytes are spores. Spores will then undergo mitosis to grow into a multicellular haploid gametophyte.

What is gametophyte and its characteristics?

Characteristics of Gametophytes Gametophytes are haploid plants that use mitosis to make haploid gametes. These gametes are female in the form of an ovum (egg) or male in the form of sperm. Gametophytes contain the archegonium, or female sex organ, or they contain the antheridium, or male sex organ.

What is made by the gametophyte generation?

The sexual phase, called the gametophyte generation, produces gametes, or sex cells, and the asexual phase, or sporophyte generation, produces spores asexually. In terms of chromosomes, the gametophyte is haploid (has a single set of chromosomes), and the sporophyte is diploid (has a double set).

What is the difference between gametophyte and sporophyte?

The plant’s haploid phase is called gametophyte and the diploid phase is called the sporophyte….

Difference Between Gametophyte and Sporophyte
Sporophytes Gametophytes
Sporophytes have two sets of chromosomes Gametophytes have a single set of chromosomes
Sporophytes reproduce asexually Gametophytes produce sexaully

How do gametophytes produce sperm and egg?

The gametophyte produces structures known as antheridia and archegonia, which produce the male and female gametes respectively. Collectively these structures are known as gametangia. The antheridia produce many biflagellate sperm cells, which require liquid water to swim to the egg cell.

What plants are gametophyte dominant?

Nonvascular plants include mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. They are the only plants with a life cycle in which the gametophyte generation is dominant.

Do gametophytes produce eggs and sperms?

In the gametophyte phase, which is haploid (having a single set of chromosomes), male and female organs (gametangia) develop and produce eggs and sperm (gametes) through simple mitosis for sexual reproduction.

Do spores develop into gametophytes?

In plants, spores are usually haploid and unicellular and are produced by meiosis in the sporangium of a diploid sporophyte. Under favourable conditions the spore can develop into a new organism using mitotic division, producing a multicellular gametophyte, which eventually goes on to produce gametes.

What is the function of a gametophyte?

A major function of the gametophyte generation is to produce haploid gametes. Fusion of the egg cell with the sperm cell gives rise to the sporophyte, thereby completing the life cycle (Raven et al., 1992). In many lower plants, gametophytes are the dominant and free-living generation.

What is a gametophyte plant?

gametophyte, in plants and certain algae, the sexual phase (or an individual representing the phase) in the alternation of generations—a phenomenon in which two distinct phases occur in the life history of the organism, each phase producing the other. The nonsexual phase is the sporophyte.

Do Gametophytes produce spores?

Gametes develop in the multicellular haploid gametophyte (from the Greek phyton, “plant”). Fertilization gives rise to a multicellular diploid sporophyte, which produces haploid spores via meiosis. Mitotic divisions within the gametophyte are required to produce the gametes.

How does fertilization occur in the bryophytes?

In all bryophytes fertilization is dependent on water—usually a film of water or the splashing of raindrops—for the transfer of sperm to the egg. Chemical stimuli direct the motile flagellate sperm to the archegonium. The fertilized egg (zygote) grows out of the gametophyte, which is also the source of its nourishment.

What happens to gametophyte after fertilization?

If fertilization takes place, it results in a zygote that develops into a tiny sporophyte on the parent gametophyte plant. The sporophyte produces haploid spores, and these develop into the next generation of gametophyte plants.

What is the relationship between sporophyte and gametophyte generation?

In seed producing plants, such as angiosperms and gymnosperms, the microscopic gametophyte generation is totally dependent upon the sporophyte generation. In flowering plants, the sporophyte generation produces both male and female spores.

Where do female gametophytes of flowering plants develop?

Female gametophytes of flowering plants develop within the ovule ( megaspore ) contained within an ovary at the base of the pistil of the flower.

Which gametophyte produces eggs and which produces sperm?

One gametophyte produces eggs, while the other produces sperm. Mosses and liverworts are also heterosporous, meaning that they produce two different types of spores. These spores develop into two distinct types of gametophytes; one type produces sperm and the other produces eggs.