Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Biology
by Saritha Pujari Reproduction in Plants
Advertisements:
Apomixix in Flowering!
The Apomixis is the formation of new individuals through asexual reproduction
without involving the formation and fusion of gametes.
Amphimixis is the formation of new individuals through the normal process of
sexual reproduction by meiotic formation of gametes and their subsequent
fusion during fertilization.
Advertisements:
The cell of hypophysis divided to give rise to eight cells. Lower four of these
form root cortex initials. Upper four form root cap and root epidermis. A fully
developed embryo of dicotyledons has an embryonal axis differentiated into
plumule, two cotyledons and radicle.
In the beginning embryo is globular. With the continuous growth the embryo
become heart shaped (cordate) which is made up of two primordial of
cotyledons. The enlarging embryo consists of two cotyledons and embryonal
axis.
The hypocotyl as well as cotyledons soon elongate in size. During further
development, the ovule becomes curved like horse-shoe (Fig. 2.31).
Larger basal cell which lies towards micropylar end does not divide further
and is transformed directly to form large suspensor or vesicular cell. Terminal
cell undergoes number of divisions in various planes and forms a single
cotyledon.
The middle cell undergoes repeated transverse and vertical divisions, thus
differentiating into few suspensor cells, radicle, plumule and hypocotyl. In this
type cotyledon is a terminal structure and plumule is situated laterally in a
depression. In monocots like Colocasia, no suspensor is formed. In
Agapanthus (family Liliaceae); two cotyledons have been reported.
Advertisements:
(iii) repeated mitotic divisions of the zygotes to form embryos (embryogenesis); and
(iv) growth of embryos into new individuals (development). Because there is
fusion of male and female gametes, the offspring produced are not identical to
their parents or fellows.
Origin of Sex:
Sex originated in protistans and simple algae. During favourable conditions,
these organisms multiply asexually but during unfavourable conditions
gametes are formed. The gametes fuse to form zygotes which often develops
a thick wall to become zygospores. The latter are dispersed.
Under favourable conditions zygospore germinates to form new organisms
(e.g., prostist/alga). The zoospores (asexual spores) and gametes are
structurally similar in Chlamydomonas and Ulothrix (both are simple algae).
Occurrence:
Sexual reproduction occurs almost in all types of plants and animals.
Types:
Sexual reproduction is of two main types; syngamy and conjugation.
2. Exogamy (Cross-fertilization):
It involves the fusion of two gametes produced by different parents. Thus it is
bi-parental, e.g., Rabbit dioecious or unisexual animal. Cross fertilization
also occurs in many hermaphrodite animals as in earthworm and leech. It is
due to the fact that their male and female reproductive organs mature at
different times.
Syngamy is of following types with regard to the structure of the fusing
gametes; isogamy, anisogamy (heterogamy), oogamy and hologamy.
1. Isogamy (Gk. iso = equal; gamos = marriage):
It involves the fusion of gametes which are similar morphologically but may be
different physiologically. Such gametes are called isogametes. Isogamy takes
place in Chlamydomonas an alga and Monocystis a protozoan.
2. Anisogamy (Heterogamy):
It involves the fusion of gametes which differ in size or motility. Such gametes
are called anisogametes or heterogametes (e.g., microgametes or male
gametes and macrogametes or female gametes. Anisogamy (Gk. n-without,
wo=equal, gamos=marriage) or heterogamy (Gk. hetero=different,
gamos=marriage) occurs in Clamydomonas, some other algae, higher
invertebrates and all vertebrates including human beings.
The common type of anisogamy is oogamy which involves the fusion of a
large non- motile female gamete (egg or ovum) and a small motile male
B. Conjugation:
It involves temporary union of two parents of the same species which
exchange their male pronuclei to form synkaryon and then separate to
Types of Gametogenesis:
Spermatogenesis and Oogenesis |
Biology
by Saritha Pujari Human Reproduction
Advertisements:
II. Oogenesis.
Period:
In the seasonally breeding animals, the testes undergo testicular cycle in
which the testes and their spermatogenic tissue become functional only in the
specific breeding season. So in some seasonally breeding mammals like bat,
otter and llama, testes enlarge, become functional and descend into the
scrotum in the breeding season as become heavier due to accumulation of
sperms, while become reduced, non-functional and ascend into the abdomen
in other seasons.
But in human male, lion, bull, horse etc., the testes lie permanently in the
scrotum and spermatogenesis occurs throughout the year. In human male,
testes descend into the respective scrotal sacs during seventh month of
development under the stimulation of FSH of adenohypophysis.
But in some mammals e.g. elephant, echidna, dolphin, whale, seal etc., testes
lie permanently in the abdomen (intra-abdominal) mainly due to presence of
blubber (thick fatty layer beneath the skin). Spermatogenesis is a continuous
process and is completed in about 74 days.
Mechanism:
Spermatogenesis is divided into two parts:
A. Formation of Spermatid:
It is divided into three phases:
1. Multiplicative or Mitotic phase:
It involves the rapid mitotic division of diploid primary or primordial germ cells,
called gonocytes, present in germinal epithelium of the seminiferous tubules
of the testes. These cell are undifferentiated and have large and chromatinrich nucleus.
This forms large number of diploid and rounded sperm mother cells called
spermatogonia (Gr. sperma = seed; gone = offspring). Each spermatogonial
cell is about 12 pm in diameter and has a prominent nucleus. Some
spermatogonia act as stem cells (called Type A spermatogonia) and go on
dividing and adding new cells by repeated mitotic divisions, so forming
spermatogenic lineage, but some spermatogonia move inward and enter
growth phase (called Type B spermatogonia).
2. Growth phase:
It is characterized by spermatocytogenesis in which a diploid spermatogonium
increases in size (about twice) by the accumulation of nutritive materials
(derived from germinal cells and not synthesized) in the cytoplasm and
replication of DNA, and forms diploid primary spermatocyte. Nutritive
materials are derived from germinal cells. During this, the primary
spermatocyte prepares itself to enter meiosis. Growth phase of
spermatogenesis is of much shorter duration than that of oogenesis.
Structure of
spermatid
1. Nucleus
Changes to acrosome.
Forms axial filament of
2. Golgi complex
3. Distal centriole
4. Mitochondria
5. Cytoplasm
sperm tail.
Form mitochondrial spiral of
sheath called nebenkem.
Generally lost except a thin
sheath called manchette.
Control:
In human male, spermatogenesis starts only at the age of puberty due to
increased secretion of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) from the
hypothalamus of brain. GnRH stimulates adenohypophysis to secrete two
gonadotropins: FSH and ICSH. ICSH stimulates the Leydigs cells of testis to
secrete male sex hormones, called androgens, most important of which is
testosterone.
Testosterone stimulates the spermatogenesis especially spermiogenesis. FSH
stimulates the Sertoli cells of testis to secrete certain factors which helps in
the process of spermatogenesis. It is called physiological control.
Types:
In man and a large number of other animals having XY mechanism in male,
there are two types of sperms: 50% Gynosperms having X-Chromosome and
50X) Androsperms having Y-Chromosome.
Significance:
(a) Produces haploid sperms.
(b) Crossing over may occur during meiosis-I, so producing variations.
(c) Proves evolutionary relationship.
Period:
Period of oogenesis is different in different animals. In human female, there
are about 1,700 primary germ cells in the undifferentiated female gonad at
one month of foetal development. These proliferate to form about 600,000
oogonia at two months of gestation period and by its 5th month, the ovaries
contain over 7 million oogonia; however, many undergo atresia (degeneration
of germ cells) before birth. At the time of birth, there are 2 million primary
follicles, but 50% of these are atretic.
Atresia continues and at the time of puberty each ovary contains only 60,00080,000 primary follicles. Oogenesis is completed only after the onset of
puberty and only one out of 500 is stimulated by FSH to mature. So oogenesis
is a discontinuous and wasteful process.
Mechanism:
Like the spermatogenesis, oogenesis is formed of three phases:
1. Multiplicative phase:
In this certain primary germ cells (larger in size and having large nuclei) of
germinal epithelium of ovary undergo rapid mitotic divisions to form groups of
diploid egg mother cells, oogonia. Each group is initially a chord and is called
egg tube of pfluger which later forms a rounded mass, egg nest (Fig. 3.13 B).
2. Growth phase:
Growth phase of oogenesis is of very long duration than that of
spermatogenesis e.g., only three days in Drosophila, 6-14 days in hen, 3
years in frog and many years (12-13 years) in human female. During growth
phase, one oogonium of egg nest is transformed into diploid primary oocyte
while other oogonia of the egg nest form a single-layered nutritive follicular
epithelium around it.
The structure so formed is called primary follicle. Later, each primary follicle
gets surrounded by more layers of granulosal cells and changes into
secondary follicle. Soon secondary follicle develops a fluid-filled antral cavity
called antrum, and is called tertiary follicle. It further changes to form Graafian
follicle. So not all the oogonia develop further.
very little of cytoplasm, while the larger cell is called ootid. It has almost whole
of cytoplasm and differentiates into an ovum. Meanwhile, first polar body may
divide into two.
So in oogenesis, a diploid oogonium forms one haploid ovum and two or three
polar bodies while in spermatogenesis, a diploid spermatogonium forms four
haploid sperms. The primary function of formation of polar bodies is to bring
haploidy but to retain the whole of the cytoplasm in one ovum to provide food
during the development of zygote to form an embryo. The number of ova is
reduced with the ability of the female to bear and rear them.
In most of organisms including human female, the ovulation occurs at
secondary oocyte stage in which meiosis-I has been completed and first polar
body has been released. Meiosis-II is completed only at the time of spermentry.
Significance:
(a) It produces haploid ovum by releasing 2 or 3 haploid polar bodies.
(b) Most of cytoplasm is retained in functional ovum.
(c) Variations may appear due to crossing over during Meiosis-I.
(d) Proves evolutionary relationship.
Advertisements:
Nomenclature:
The nomenclature of restriction endonucleases follows a general
pattern:
(1) The first letter of the name of genus in which a given enzyme is discovered
is written in capital.
(2) This is followed by the first two letters of species name of the organism.
These three letters are generally written in italics. e.g., Eco from Escherichia
Coli, Hin from Haemophilus influenzae, Hpa from Haemophilus
parainfluenzae, etc.
(3) Strain or type identification is depicted as subscript, e.g., EcoK; if the
enzyme is encoded by a plasmid, the plasmid name is written as a subscript,
e.g., EcoRI.
(4) When an organism produces more than one enzyme, they are identified by
sequential Roman numerals, e.g., the different enzymes produced by H.
influenzae strain Rd are named Hindll, HindIII, etc.
(5) All restriction enzymes are designated by the general symbol R, which is
prefixed to their names, e.g., RECORI RHindIII, RBamHl, etc. (this is to
distinguish them from the corresponding methylases isolated from the same
strains; the methylases are prefixed by M).
However, in practice, the following simplifications are used:
(1) The subscripts (due to strain or plasmid names) are ordinarily written on
line, e.g., REcoRI, RHind III, etc., and
(2) The prefix R is not used where the context makes it clear that the enzyme
under reference is a restriction endonuclease (Table 2.1).
Recognition Sequences:
The recognition sequences for Type 11 endonucleases form palindromes with
rotational symmetry (Table 2.1). In a palindrome, the base sequence in the
second half of a DNA strand is the mirror image of the sequence in its first
half; consequently, the complementary DNA strand of a double helix also
shows the same situation (Fig. 2.1).
But in a palindrome with rotational symmetry, the base sequence in the first
halt of one strand of a DNA double helix is the mirror image of the second half
of its complementary strand (Fig. 2.2). Thus in such palindromes, the base
sequence in both the strands of a DNA duplex reads the same when read
from the same end (either 5 or 3) of both the strands.
recognition sites, e.g., Hi nil, EcoRII, etc., so that they may recognise upto 4
or even more, e.g., Sfil, different target sequences. (Table 2.1).
Cleavage Patterns:
Most type II restriction endonucleases cleave the DNA molecules within their
specific recognition sequences, but some produce cuts immediately outside
the target sequence, e.g., Nlalll, Sau3A, etc. (Table 2.1). These cuts are either
(1) staggered or (2) even, depending on the enzyme.
Most enzymes produce staggered cuts in which the two strands of a DNA
double helix are cleaved at different locations; this generates protruding (3 or
5) ends (Fig. 2.3), i.e., one strand of the double helix extends some bases
beyond the other. Due to the palindromic (symmetrical) nature of the target
sites, the two protruding ends generated by such a cleavage by a given
enzyme have complementary base sequence.
As a result, they readily pair with each other under annealing conditions; such
ends are called cohesive or sticky ends. An important consequence of this fact
is that when fragments generated by a single restriction enzyme from different
DNAs are mixed, they join together due to their sticky ends (Fig. 2.4).
Therefore, this property of the restriction enzymes is of great value for the
construction of recombinant DNAs.
FIG. 2.4. Two distinct samples (A and B) of DNA are cleaved with the same
restriction enzyme (EcoRl). The fragments from sample A readily join with
those from sample B due to their cohesive (or sticky = complementary)
protruding ends. The dotted line within the recognition sequences separates
the base sequences belonging to the different fragments.
In addition, two or more restriction enzymes having different recognition sites
generate the same sticky end as is depicted in Fig 2.5 for BamHl, Bglll and
Sau3A; they all produce GATC sticky ends.
FIG. 2.5. Different restriction enzymes may generate the same sticky end
e.g. 5GATC3 in this case.
Therefore, the sticky ends produced by these three enzymes will be
complementary with each other, and can be regarded as having been
produced by a single enzyme for the purposes of joining together of the
different DNA fragments. The same will be true for any other group of such
enzymes that generate the same sticky ends.
There are cases where two different restriction enzymes recognize the same
target sequence, but one of them is able to recognize both methylated as well
non-methylated target sequences, while the other enzyme can recognize only
the non-methylated target sequence; such enzymes are known as
isoschizomers.
For example, restriction enzymes Hpall and MspI are isoschizomers; they
both recognize the sequence 5CCGG3 when it is unmethylated. But when
the second C of the sequence is methylated, Hpall can no longer recognize it,
while MspI recognizes it just as well as it does the unmethylated sequence.
Isoschizomers are very useful in determining the state of methylation of a
DNA molecule.
Some restriction enzymes, on the other hand, cut both the strands of a DNA
molecule at the same site so that the resulting termini or ends have blunt or
flush ends in which the two strands end at the same point (Fig. 2.3). The blunt
cut ends also can be effectively utilized for construction of recombinant DNAs
following one of several strategies.
In addition, the restriction sites are not evenly distributed along a DNA
molecule; this fact is clearly demonstrated by the sizes of different fragments
obtained following restriction digestion of , genome with BamHl, Bglll and Sail
(Table 2.2). But it would also be noted that distribution of the sites is more
even for some enzymes than for others.