Question

The megaspore mother cell and the microspore mother cell do?
(a) Both produce pollen grains.
(b) Both divide meiotically.
(c) Both divide mitotically.
(d) Produce pollen grains and embryo sacs respectively.

Answer 1

Hint: These mother cells undergo division to produce four daughter cells.

Complete answer:
- Meiosis is a process of cell division in which a cell divides to produce four daughter cells.
- A megaspore mother cell is a diploid cell in plants. These megaspore mother cells undergo meiosis division resulting in the production of four haploid megaspores. Out of four only one megaspore develops into haploid female gametophyte at maturity and the other three soon degenerate.
- A microspore mother cell also known as microsporocyte is a diploid cell in plants. These microspore mother cells undergo meiosis division to give rise to four haploid microspores. - Each of these microspores divide and redivide mitotically to form pollen grains. At maturity the microsporangia burst to release the pollen grains from the anther.

Additional information:
Mature pollen grains contain two cells: a generative cell and a pollen tube cell.

So,the correct answer is option (b) both divide meiotically i.e, both megaspore mother cell and microspore mother cell divides meiotically.

Note:
- Diploid is a cell that has paired chromosomes, one from each parent.
- Haploid cells have a single set of chromosomes. Organisms that reproduce asexually are haploid.
- The gametophyte is the sexual phase in the life cycle of plants and algae. It develops sex organs that produce gametes, haploid sex cells that participate in fertilization to form a diploid zygote. Cell division of the zygote results in a new diploid multicellular organism, the second stage in the life cycle known as the sporophyte. The sporophyte can produce haploid spores by meiosis.