Question

The polar body is:

• A. Another name for an egg cell
• B. A precursor cell that becomes an egg cell
• C. Nonfunctional cell rudiment made at the same time as an egg cell
• D. The cell produced when fertilization occurs

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

Nonfunctional cell rudiment made at the same time as an egg cell

A polar body is a small haploid cell that is formed concomitantly as an egg cell during oogenesis, but which generally does not have the ability to be fertilized. When certain diploid cells in animals undergo cytokinesis after meiosis to produce egg cells, they sometimes divide unevenly. Most of the cytoplasm is segregated into one daughter cell, which becomes the egg or ovum, while the smaller polar bodies only get a small amount of cytoplasm. They frequently die (apoptosis) and disappear, but in some cases, they remain and can be important in the life cycle of the organism.

So the correct option is 'nonfunctional cell rudiment made at the same time as an egg cell'.