Development of male- and female gametophytes of Arabidopsis thaliana (L) Heyhn

Abstract

The object of this investigation was the study of the processes of meiosis, pollen grain development, spermiogenesis and embryosac formation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Spermiogenesis in A. thaliana takes place within the pollen grain. The mature pollen grain consists of three cells. Its exina is thick and has a collumellar structure. The pollen grain has three pores. The embryosac is of monosporic eight-nucleate type. By the time of fertilization it contains an egg cell, two synergids and the central cell of the embryosac. The antipodal nuclei degenerate before the fusion of the polar nuclei.