What is oogenesis? Givea brief account of oogenesis.
Oogenesis is theprocess of the formation of a mature ovum from the oogonia infemales. It takes place in the ovaries. During oogenesis, a diploidoogonium or egg mother cell increases in size and gets transformedinto a diploid primary oocyte. This diploid primary oocyte undergoesfirst meiotic division i.e., meiosis I or reductional division toform two unequal haploid cells. The smaller cell is known as thefirst polar body, while the larger cell is known as the secondaryoocyte. This secondary oocyte undergoes second meiotic division i.e.,meiosis II or equational division and gives rise to a second polarbody and an ovum. Hence, in the process of oogenesis, a diploidoogonium produces a single haploid ovum while two or three polarbodies are produced.