Plant development

WRITTEN BY:
 John Heslop-Harrison
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Plant development, a multiphasic process in which two distinct plantforms

succeed each other in alternating generations. One form, the sporophyte, is
created by the union of gametes (sex cells) and is thus diploid (contains two
sets of similar chromosomes). At maturity, the sporophyte produces haploid
(containing a single set of chromosomes) spores, which grow into the
gametophyte generation. At their sexual maturity, the gametophytes produce
haploid gametes that unite to begin a new cycle.
Although both plants and animals share the chemical basis of inheritance and
of translation of the genetic code into structural units called proteins,
plant development differs from that of animals in several important ways.
Higher plants sustain growth throughout life and, in this sense, are perpetually
embryonic; animals, on the other hand, generally have a determinate period of
growth, after which they are considered mature. Furthermore, both growth and
organ formation in plants are influenced by their possession of a rigid cell
wall and a fluid-filled space called the vacuole, two features unique to the
plant cell. Conversely, certain features of animal cells are absent in plants.
Notable is the lack of cellular movements and fusions that play an important
part in tissue and organ development in higher animals.

In growing plants, roots and leaves play an essential role in transporting the materials the plant needs to
survive, such as carbon dioxide, water, and mineral salts.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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agricultural technology: Essential plant nutrients

In total, the plant has need of at least 16 elements, of which the most important are

carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, calcium, and

magnesium.

General Features

Life cycles
The life cycle of all tracheophytes (vascular plants), bryophytes (mosses and
liverworts), and many algae and fungi is based on an alternation of
generations, or different life phases: the gametophyte, which produces
gametes, or sex cells, alternating with the sporophyte, which produces spores.
Gametophytes develop from the spores and, like them, are normally haploid;
i.e., each cell has one set of chromosomes. Sporophytes develop from a
fertilized egg, or zygote, that results from the fusion of gametes (fertilization)
formed by the gametophytes and are accordingly diploid; i.e., each cell has
two sets of chromosomes. Although the two generations are phases of one
life cycle, they have independent developmental histories; each begins as a
single cell, passes through a juvenile period, matures, and gives rise to the
alternate phase.

Life cycle of a mossThe life cycle of bryophytes consists of an alternation of two stages, or generations,
called the sporophyte and the gametophyte. Each generation has a different physical form. When a spore
germinates, it usually produces the protonema, which precedes the appearance of the more elaborately
organized gametophytic plant, the gametophyte, which produces the sex organs. The female sex organ is
a flask-shaped structure called the archegonium. The archegonium contains a single egg in a swollen
lower portion that is more than one cell thick. The neck of the archegonium is a single cell layer thick and
sheathes a single thread of cells that forms the neck canal. When mature and completely moist, the neck
canal cells of the archegonium disintegrate, releasing a column of fluid to the neck canal and the
surrounding water. The egg remains in the base of the archegonium, ready for fertilization. The male sex
organ, the antheridium, is a saclike structure made up of a jacket of sterile cells one cell thick; it encloses
many cells, each of which, when mature, produces one sperm. When wet, the jacket of the mature
antheridium ruptures to release the sperm into the water. When a sperm enters the field of the fluid
diffused from the neck canal, it swims toward the site of greatest concentration of this fluid, therefore
down the neck canal to the egg. Upon reaching the egg, the sperm burrows into its wall, and the egg
nucleus unites with the sperm nucleus to produce the diploid zygote. The zygote remains in the
archegonium and undergoes many mitotic cell divisions to produce an embryonic sporophyte. Mature
bryophytes have a single sporangium (spore-producing structure) on each sporophyte. The sporangium
generally terminates an elongate stalk, or seta, when the sporangium is ready to shed its spores and is
capped by a lid, or operculum. The sporangium rupture usually involves specialized structures that
enhance expulsion of the spores away from the parent gametophyte.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.