Question

Differenciate between the two cells enclosed in a mature male gametophyte of an angiosperm.

Answer 1

The mature male gametophyte in angiosperms is called the pollen grain. It contains two cells, vegetative and generative cell.

The vegetative cell is bigger, with abundant food reserve and an irregularly shaped nucleus.

Generative cell is small, floats in the cytoplasm of the vegetative cell, spindle shaped with dense cytoplasm and nucleus. The generative cell mitotically divides to produce two male gametes which are used in double fertilization.