Question

How many microspore mother cells will be there in each pollen chamber if there are 1280 microspores in a tetralocular anther?

Options

• 80

• 240

• 160

• 1280

Answer 1

80

Explanation:

There are four pollen chambers in a tetralocular anther. Because the anther contains 1280 microspores, the number of microspores in each chamber is `1280/4= 320`

The mother cell of four microspores (2n) goes through meiosis to produce four haploid microspores (n). Number of microspore mother cells (MMCs) required to create 320 microspores

`= 320/4=80`

∴ Each chamber has 80 MMCs.