An oospore is a thick-walled sexual

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

that develops from a fertilized

oosphere The egg cell, or ovum (plural ova), is the female reproductive cell, or gamete, in most anisogamous organisms (organisms that reproduce sexually with a larger, female gamete and a smaller, male one). The term is used when the female gamete is ...

in some

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular micr ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately fr ...

, and oomycetes. They are believed to have evolved either through the fusion of two species or the chemically-induced stimulation of mycelia, leading to oospore formation. In Oomycetes, oospores can also result from asexual reproduction, by

apomixis In botany, apomixis is asexual reproduction without fertilization. Its etymology is Greek for "away from" + "mixing". This definition notably does not mention meiosis. Thus "normal asexual reproduction" of plants, such as propagation from cuttin ...

. These are found in fungi as sexual spores which help the sexual reproduction of fungi. These haploid, non-motile spores are the site of meiosis and karyogamy in oomycetes. A dormant oospore, when observed under an electron microscope, has led researchers to draw conclusion that there is only a single central globule with other storage bodies surrounding it.

References

Reproduction {{biology-stub