Micropyle


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Related to Micropyle: embryo sac, synergid, antipodal cells

micropyle

[′mī·krə‚pīl]
(botany)
A minute opening in the integument at the tip of an ovule through which the pollen tube commonly enters; persists in the seed as an opening or a scar between the hilum and point of radicle.

Micropyle

 

(1) An opening in the membrane of the eggs of insects, arachnids, some mollusks, fishes, and a number of other animals, through which the spermatozoon penetrates. (2) An opening in the apex of the ovule in higher seed plants, through which the pollen tube penetrates during pollination. The micropyle is formed because the integuments surrounding the ovule are unattached.

Micropyle

 

the canal in the integument or integuments of a plant through which the ovule is penetrated in gymnosperms by pollen grains and in angiosperms by pollen tubes. The external opening of the micropyle may be observed on the surface of a mature seed in the form of a dark dot.

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References in periodicals archive ?
However, the story must be completed because arrival of pollen grains at the micropyle is the beginning of more complex processes, as first pointed out by Joseph Doyle (1945).
The only suggested explanation for the functional significance of this peculiar phenomenon is by Takaso and Owens (2008) who suggest that the exine-less grain is flexible and gains more ready access through the narrow micropyle than rigid solid bodies, including the shed exines.
6) shows how the ovule becomes inverted so that the micropyle points towards the cone axis, even though this axis may not extend above the insertion of the complex (Fig.
Rescuing Robert Brown--the origins of angio-ovuly in seed cones of conifers
The sarcotesta in the region of the micropyle has a thickness that
the channel of the micropyle and diminishes from 9 [micro]m to 6
Surrounding the micropyle there are up to ten strata with
Seed coat anatomy of Ceratozamia mexicana (Cycadales)
It is ultimately enclosed by one or two integuments, which develop from around the primordium base and encircle its apex, forming the micropyle.
However, in some tenuinucellate taxa, rapid and complete degeneration of micropylar megaspores and pressure from adjacent tissue soon results in a continuous subdermal nucellus layer at the micropyle.
Tilton (1980a) differentiated between a nucellar cap, which is rounded, and a nucellar beak, which is pointed and sometimes extends into the micropyle.
The nucellus and chalaza in monocotyledons: structure and schematics
1985; Kolattukudy, 1980a, 1980b, 1981, 1984; Werker, 1980-1981) as well as the opening of the hilum valve (Hyde, 1954), the micropyle or chalaza (Marchaim et al.
Strategies of seed dispersal and germination in plants inhabiting deserts
Microorganisms that infect seeds can enter through natural openings, such as the micropyle, or through wounds or cracks.
The role of seed coats in seed viability
the ovule is completely bent around so that the micropyle faces toward the placenta.
Seed germination of the Australian desert shrub Eremophila (Myoporaceae)

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