Plant Life Cycles

About Plant Life Cycle

Plants have both multicellular haploid and multicellular diploid stages in their life cycles. Embryonic development is seen only in the diploid generation. The embryo, however, is produced by the fusion of gametes, which are formed only by the haploid generation. Understanding the relationship between the two generations is important in the study of plant development.

In plants, gametes develop in the multicellular haploid gametophyte (Greek phyton, “plant”). Fertilization gives rise to a multicellular diploid sporophyte, which produces haploid spores via meiosis. This type of life cycle is called a haplodiplontic life cycle (Figure 1). It differs from the diplontic life cycle of most animals, in which only the gametes are in the haploid state. In haplodiplontic life cycles, gametes are not the direct result of a meiotic division. Diploid sporophyte cells undergo meiosis to produce haploid spores. Each spore then goes through mitotic divisions to yield a multicellular, haploid gametophyte. Mitotic divisions within the gametophyte are required to produce the gametes. The diploid sporophyte results from the fusion of two gametes. Among the Plantae, the gametophytes and sporophytes of a species have distinct morphologies (in some algae they look alike). How a single genome can be used to create two unique morphologies is an intriguing puzzle.




All plants alternate generations. There is an evolutionary trend from sporophytes that are nutritionally dependent on autotrophic (self-feeding) gametophytes to the opposite—gametophytes that are dependent on autotrophic sporophytes. This trend is exemplified by comparing the life cycles of a moss, a fern, and an angiosperm (see Figures 2-4). (Gymnosperm life cycles bear many similarities to those of angiosperms; the distinctions will be explored in the context of angiosperm development.)

The “leafy” moss you walk on in the woods is the gametophyte generation of that plant (Figure 2). Mosses are heterosporous, which means they make two distinct types of spores; these develop into male and female gametophytes. Male gametophytes develop reproductive structures called antheridia (singular, antheridium) that produce sperm by mitosis. Female gametophytes develop archegonia (singular, archegonium) that produce eggs by mitosis. Sperm travel to a neighboring plant via a water droplet, are chemically attracted to the entrance of the archegonium, and fertilization results.1 The embryonic sporophyte develops within the archegonium, and the mature sporophyte stays attached to the gametophyte. The sporophyte is not photosynthetic. Thus both the embryo and the mature sporophyte are nourished by the gametophyte. Meiosis within the capsule of the sporophyte yields haploid spores that are released and eventually germinate to form a male or female gametophyte.




Ferns follow a pattern of development similar to that of mosses, although most (but not all) ferns are homosporous. That is, the sporophyte produces only one type of spore within a structure called the sporangium (Figure 3). A single gametophyte can produce both male and female sex organs. The greatest contrast between the mosses and the ferns is that both the gametophyte and the sporophyte of the fern photosynthesize and are thus autotrophic; the shift to a dominant sporophyte generation is taking place.



At first glance, angiosperms may appear to have a diplontic life cycle because the gametophyte generation has been reduced to just a few cells (Figure 4). However, mitotic division still follows meiosis in the sporophyte, resulting in a multicellular gametophyte, which produces eggs or sperm. All of this takes place in the organ that characterizes the angiosperms: the flower. Male and female gametophytes have distinct morphologies (i.e., angiosperms are heterosporous), but the gametes they produce no longer rely on water for fertilization. Rather, wind or members of the animal kingdom deliver the male gametophyte—pollen—to the female gametophyte. Another evolutionary innovation found in the gymnosperms and angiosperms is the production of a seed coat, which adds an extra layer of protection around the embryo. A further protective layer, the fruit, is unique to the angiosperms and aids in the dispersal of the enclosed embryos by wind or animals.