About Lesson
Pollen grain (male gametophyte):-
- Generally spherical. 25-50 μm in diameter. Cytoplasm is surrounded by a plasma membrane.
- A pollen grain has a two-layered wall, exine and intine.
- Exine: The hard outer layer. Made up of sporopollenin (highly resistant organic material). It can withstand high temperatures and strong acids and alkalis.
- Enzymes cannot degrade sporopollenin.
- Exine has apertures called germ pores where sporopollenin is absent.
- Pollen grains are well preserved as fossils due to the presence of sporopollenin.
- Exine exhibits a fascinating array of patterns and designs.
- Intine: The inner wall. It is a thin and continuous layer made up of cellulose and pectin.
- A matured pollen grain contains 2 cells
- Vegetative cell: is bigger, has abundant food reserve and a large, irregularly shaped nucleus.
- Generative cell: is small and floats in the cytoplasm of
the vegetative cell. - It is spindle-shaped with dense cytoplasm and a nucleus.