Microspore

Microscopic photo of spores (in red) of Selaginella. The large three spores at the top are megaspores whereas the numerous smaller red spores at the bottom are microspores.

Microspores are land plant spores that develop into male gametophytes, whereas megaspores develop into female gametophytes.[1] The male gametophyte gives rise to sperm cells, which are used for fertilization of an egg cell to form a zygote. Megaspores are structures that are part of the alternation of generations in many seedless vascular cryptogams, all gymnosperms and all angiosperms. Plants with heterosporous life cycles using microspores and megaspores arose independently in several plant groups during the Devonian period.[2] Microspores are haploid, and are produced from diploid microsporocytes by meiosis.[3]

  1. ^ Evert, Ray (2013). Biology of Plants. New York: Peter Marshall. ISBN 978-1-4292-1961-7.
  2. ^ Bateman, R.M.; Dimichele, W.A. (1994). "Heterospory – the most iterative key innovation in the evolutionary history of the plant kingdom". Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 69 (3): 345–417. doi:10.1111/j.1469-185x.1994.tb01276.x. S2CID 29709953.
  3. ^ Bidlack, James E.; Jansky, Shelley H. (2011). Stern's Introductory Plant Biology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-304052-3.