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Isogamete
Isogamy is a form of sexual reproduction that involves gametes of the same morphology (indistinguishable in shape and size), found in most unicellular eukaryotes. Because both gametes look alike, they generally cannot be classified as male or female. Instead, organisms undergoing isogamy are said to have different mating types, most commonly noted as "+" and "−" strains. Etymology The literal meaning of isogamy is "equal marriage" which refers to equal contribution of resources by both gametes to a zygote. The term isogamous was first used in the year 1887. Characteristics of isogamous species Isogamous species often have two mating types. Some isogamous species have more than two mating types, but the number is usually lower than ten. In some extremely rare cases a species can have thousands of mating types. In all cases, fertilization occurs when gametes of two different mating types fuse to form a zygote. Evolution It is generally accepted that isogamy is an an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reproduction
Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual organism exists as the result of reproduction. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reproduction, an organism can reproduce without the involvement of another organism. Asexual reproduction is not limited to single-celled organisms. The cloning of an organism is a form of asexual reproduction. By asexual reproduction, an organism creates a genetically similar or identical copy of itself. The evolution of sexual reproduction is a major puzzle for biologists. The two-fold cost of sexual reproduction is that only 50% of organisms reproduce and organisms only pass on 50% of their genes.John Maynard Smith ''The Evolution of Sex'' 1978. Sexual reproduction typically requires the sexual interaction of two specializ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulva (alga)
The sea lettuces comprise the genus ''Ulva'', a group of edible green algae that is widely distributed along the coasts of the world's oceans. The type species within the genus ''Ulva'' is ''Ulva lactuca'', ''lactuca'' being Latin for "lettuce". The genus also includes the species previously classified under the genus ''Enteromorpha'', the former members of which are known under the common name green nori. Description Individual blades of ''Ulva'' can grow to be more than 400 mm (16 in) in size, but this occurs only when the plants are growing in sheltered areas. A macroscopic alga which is light to dark green in colour, it is attached by disc holdfast. Their structure is a leaflike flattened thallus. Nutrition and contamination Sea lettuce is eaten by a number of different sea animals, including manatees and the sea slugs known as sea hares. Many species of sea lettuce are a food source for humans in Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, China, and Japan (where thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypogamy
Hypergamy (colloquially referred to as "marrying up") is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person marrying a spouse of higher caste or social status than themselves. The antonym "hypogamy" refers to the inverse: marrying a person of lower social class or status (colloquially "marrying down"). Both terms were coined in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century while translating classical Hindu law books, which used the Sanskrit terms ''anuloma'' and ''pratiloma'', respectively, for the two concepts. The term hypergyny is used to describe the overall practice of women marrying up, since the men would be marrying down. India In rural India, hypergamy is an opportunity to modernize. Marriages in rural India are increasingly examples of hypergamy. Farmers and other rural workers want their daughters to have access to city life, for with metropolitan connections comes better job opportunities, upper-class social circles, even better housing opportuniti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypergamy
Hypergamy (colloquially referred to as "marrying up") is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person marrying a spouse of higher caste or social status than themselves. The antonym "hypogamy" refers to the inverse: marrying a person of lower social class or status (colloquially "marrying down"). Both terms were coined in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century while translating classical Hindu law books, which used the Sanskrit terms ''anuloma'' and ''pratiloma'', respectively, for the two concepts. The term hypergyny is used to describe the overall practice of women marrying up, since the men would be marrying down. India In rural India, hypergamy is an opportunity to modernize. Marriages in rural India are increasingly examples of hypergamy. Farmers and other rural workers want their daughters to have access to city life, for with metropolitan connections comes better job opportunities, upper-class social circles, even better housing opportunities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oogamy
Oogamy is an extreme form of anisogamy where the gametes differ in both size and form. In oogamy the large female gamete (also known as ovum) is immobile, while the small male gamete (also known as sperm) is mobile. Oogamy is a common form of anisogamy, with almost all animals and land plants being oogamous. Occurrence Oogamy is found in most species that reproduce sexually, all higher species being oogamous. Oogamy is found in all land plants, and in some red algae, brown algae and green algae. Oogamy is favored in plants because only one gamete has to travel through harsh environments outside the plant. Oogamy is also present in oomycetes. Almost all animals are oogamous. There are exceptions, such as the opiliones that have immobile sperm. Etymology The term oogamy was first used in the year 1888. Evolution It is generally accepted that isogamy is the ancestral state and that oogamy evolves from isogamy through anisogamy. However, transitions do exist between ani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meiosis
Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately result in four cells with only one copy of each chromosome ( haploid). Additionally, prior to the division, genetic material from the paternal and maternal copies of each chromosome is crossed over, creating new combinations of code on each chromosome. Later on, during fertilisation, the haploid cells produced by meiosis from a male and female will fuse to create a cell with two copies of each chromosome again, the zygote. Errors in meiosis resulting in aneuploidy (an abnormal number of chromosomes) are the leading known cause of miscarriage and the most frequent genetic cause of developmental disabilities. In meiosis, DNA replication is followed by two rounds of cell division to produce four daughter cells, each with half the number of chr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mating In Fungi
Mating in fungi is a complex process governed by mating types. Research on Fungus, fungal mating has focused on several model species with different behaviour. Not all fungi reproduce sexually and many that do are isogamy, isogamous; thus, for many members of the fungal kingdom, the terms "male" and "female" do not apply. Homothallism, Homothallic species are able to mate with themselves, while in Heterothallism, heterothallic species only isolates of opposite mating types can mate. Mating between isogamous fungi may consist only of a transfer of a nucleus from one cell to another. Vegetative incompatibility within species often prevents a fungal isolate from mating with another isolate. Isolates of the same incompatibility group do not mate or mating does not lead to successful offspring. High variation has been reported including same-chemotype mating, sporophyte to gametophyte mating and biparental transfer of mitochondria. File:zygo2.png, Fungi within Zygomycota form progamet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evolution Of Sexual Reproduction
Sexual reproduction is an adaptive feature which is common to almost all multicellular organisms and various unicellular organisms, with some organisms being incapable of asexual reproduction. Currently the adaptive advantage of sexual reproduction is widely regarded as a major unsolved problem in biology. As discussed below, one prominent theory is that sex evolved as an efficient mechanism for producing variation, and this had the advantage of enabling organisms to adapt to changing environments. Another prominent theory, also discussed below, is that a primary advantage of outcrossing sex is the masking of the expression of deleterious mutations. Additional theories concerning the adaptive advantage of sex are also discussed below. Sex does, however, come with a cost. In reproducing asexually, no time nor energy needs to be expended in choosing a mate. And if the environment has not changed, then there may be little reason for variation, as the organism may already be wel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anisogamy
Different forms of anisogamy: A) anisogamy of motile cells, B) egg_cell.html"_;"title="oogamy_(egg_cell">oogamy_(egg_cell_and_sperm_cell),_C)_anisogamy_of_non-motile_cells_(egg_cell_and_spermatia)..html" ;"title="egg_cell_and_sperm_cell.html" ;"title="egg_cell.html" ;"title="oogamy (egg cell">oogamy (egg cell and sperm cell">egg_cell.html" ;"title="oogamy (egg cell">oogamy (egg cell and sperm cell), C) anisogamy of non-motile cells (egg cell and spermatia).">283x283px Anisogamy is a form of sexual reproduction that involves the union or fusion of two gametes that differ in size and/or form. The smaller gamete is male, a sperm cell, whereas the larger gamete is female, typically an [ gg cell. Anisogamy is predominant among multicellular organisms. In both plants and animals gamete size difference is the fundamental difference between females and males. Anisogamy most likely evolved from isogamy. Since the biological definition of male and female is based on gamete size, the evo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chlamydomonas
''Chlamydomonas'' is a genus of green algae consisting of about 150 speciesSmith, G.M. 1955 ''Cryptogamic Botany Volume 1. Algae and Fungi'' McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc of unicellular flagellates, found in stagnant water and on damp soil, in freshwater, seawater, and even in snow as "snow algae". ''Chlamydomonas'' is used as a model organism for molecular biology, especially studies of flagellar motility and chloroplast dynamics, biogenesis, and genetics. One of the many striking features of ''Chlamydomonas'' is that it contains ion channels (channelrhodopsins) that are directly activated by light. Some regulatory systems of ''Chlamydomonas'' are more complex than their homologs in Gymnosperms, with evolutionarily related regulatory proteins being larger and containing additional domains. Molecular phylogeny studies indicated that the traditional genus ''Chlamydomonas'' as defined using morphological data was polyphyletic within Volvocales. Many species were subsequently ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulothrix
''Ulothrix'' is a genus of green algae in the family Ulotrichaceae. ''Ulothrix'' is a genus of non-branching filamentous green algae, generally found in fresh and marine water. Its cells are normally as broad as they are long, and they thrive in the low temperatures of spring and winter. They become attached to surfaces by a modified holdfast cell. Reproduction is normally vegetative. They are Eukaryotic and multicellular because the cells have specific functions as the lowermost cell serves as holdfast and it doesn't have chloroplast, and the apical cell is dome-shaped. The genus includes: * ''Ulothrix aequalis'' KützingGuiry, M.D., John, D.M., Rindi, F and McCarthy, T.K. (ed.) 2007. ''New Survey of Clare Island Volume: The Freshwater and Terrestrial Algae''. Royal Irish Academy. . * ''Ulothrix moniliformis'' Kützing * ''Ulothrix flacca'' (Dillwyn) Thuret in Le JolisBurrows, E.M. 1991. ''Seaweeds of the British Isles Volume 2: Chlorophyta''. Natural History Museum, London ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spirogyra
''Spirogyra'' (common names include water silk, mermaid's tresses, and blanket weed) is a genus of filamentous charophyte green algae of the order Zygnematales, named for the helical or spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts that is characteristic of the genus. ''Spirogyra'' species, of which there are more than 400, are commonly found in freshwater habitats. ''Spirogyra'' measures approximately 10 to 100 μm in width and may grow to several centimetres in length. It is often observed as green slimy patches on the ground near ponds and other water bodies having stagnant water. General characteristics ''Spirogyra'' is very common in relatively clear eutrophic water, developing slimy filamentous green masses. In spring ''Spirogyra'' grows under water, but when there is enough sunlight and warmth they produce large amounts of oxygen, adhering as bubbles between the tangled filaments. The filamentous masses come to the surface and become visible as slimy green mats. ''Spirogyr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
