Megaspore mother cell

A megaspore mother cell, or megasporocyte, is a diploid cell in plants in which meiosis will occur, resulting in the production of four megaspores.^[1]

In angiosperms or flowering plants, the megasporocyte produces a megaspore that develops into an embryo sac through two distinct processes – megasporogenesis (formation of the megaspore in the nucellus, or megasporangium), and megagametogenesis (development of the megaspore into the embryo sac, or megagametophyte).^[2]

Generally, within each sporangium, meiosis of a megaspore mother cell produces four haploid megaspores.^[2] In gymnosperms and angiosperms, only one of these four megaspores is functional at maturity, and the other three soon degenerate. The megaspore that remains divides mitotically and develops into the female gametophyte (megagametophyte) which eventually produces one or more eggs.^[2]

References

1. ^ Solomon, Eldra P., 2005, Biology, Thomson, Brooks/Cole, United States
2. ^ ^{a b c} Raven, Peter H., 2005, Biology of Plants, W.H. Freeman and Company Publishers, United States