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Gametogenesis in the green algaOedogonium cardiacum

II. Spermiogenesis

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Summary

Spermiogenesis in the macandrous, filamentous green algaOedogonium cardiacum is described at the ultrastructural level. The formation of the flagellar apparatus is similar to that in zoosporogenesis. Centrioles, appearingde novo in extranuclear, electron dense material, proliferate into two rows around the nucleus. Rootlet templates concurrently form between adjacent centrioles. The two rows migrate to the side of the cell and expand into a ring configuration. The centrioles (more correctly, basal bodies) extrude flagella while rootlet microtubules extend from the rootlet templates. Other components of the flagellar apparatus, including the fibrous ring and striated fibers, also form at this time. The flagellar apparatus of a mature sperm cell resembles that of a zoospore except the components are fewer in number and some are less well developed. A heterogeneous population of Golgi bodies in differentiating spermatids either contribute vesicles to the dome of the sperm cell, or else package and secrete extracellular products which are postulated to play a role in the release of sperm from the sperm packet.

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Coss, R.A., Pickett-Heaps, J.D. Gametogenesis in the green algaOedogonium cardiacum . Protoplasma 81, 297–311 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275817

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275817

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