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13: Sexual Reproduction

  • Page ID
    93192
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    Learning objectives
    • Understand the structure of DNA.
    • Compare the different states of ploidy and which process of cell division — mitosis or meiosis — they are produced from.
    • Recognize what happens to the chromosomes, cell wall, cell membrane, and nuclear membrane in each of the stages of mitosis and meiosis.
    • Compare the similarities and differences in the outcomes of mitosis and meiosis.

    Mitosis is essential to all plant propagation. It produces the mighty oak from a single zygote cell and makes all forms of propagation possible. The adventitious rooting process of any cutting begins with mitosis and continues through many mitotic divisions to produce a root meristem. Meiosis is also fundamental to plant propagation for the production of gametes that fuse, producing diversity for evolution and plant breeding.

    Thumbnail: Stages of mitosis in onion root tip. Melissa HaCC BY-NC-SA 2.0


    This page titled 13: Sexual Reproduction is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Tom Michaels, Matt Clark, Emily Hoover, Laura Irish, Alan Smith, and Emily Tepe (Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.