Question

A dandelion produces seeds without meiosis or fertilization. The adult sporophyte forms diploid rather than haploid, Megaspores that develop Into ovules containing diploid rather than haploid nuclei One of the nuclei in each becomes an egg and develops directly, without fertilisation, into an embryo that is genetically identical to its parent. The type of reproduction is called:
A. Parthenogenesis which is a form of apomixis.
B. Parthenogenesis which is a form of amphimixis.
C. Adventive embryony, which is a form of apomixis.
D. Agamospermy, which is a form of amphimixis.

Answer 1

Hint: In botany, Hans Winkler for the first time defined the term ‘apomixis’, as replacement of the conventional amphimixis by agamogenesis , without fertilization. Notably, meiosis isn't mentioned during this definition. In conclusion, asexual reproduction of plants, like propagation from cuttings has never been considered to be apomixis, but replacement of the seed by a plantlet or replacement of the flower by bulbils were categorized as forms of apomixis.

Complete step by step solution: Apomictically produced offspring are genetically rather just like the parent plant. In flowering plants, the term "apomixis" is usually utilized during a restricted sense to mean agamospermy, i.e., clonal reproduction through seeds. Although, just in case of gymnosperms , agamospermy could theoretically occur, it appears to be absent in the group. Apogamy could even be a related term that has had various meanings over time. In plants with independent gametophytes (notably ferns), the term remains used interchangeably with "apomixis", and both ask the formation of sporophytes by parthenogenesis of gametophyte cells.

So, from the above discussion it's concluded that the correct answer is option A.

Note: Apomictic plants are genetically identical from one generation to subsequent , each lineage features variety of the characters of a real species, maintaining distinctions from other apomictic lineages within identical genus, while having much smaller differences than is normal between species of most genera. they're therefore often called microspecies. In some genera, it's possible to spot and name hundreds or maybe thousands of microspecies, which can be grouped together as species aggregates, typically listed in floras.