Title: Life Cycle of Bryophytes - Meaning & Life Cycle - Biology Reader
Headings: Life Cycle of Bryophytes
Life Cycle of Bryophytes
Content: Life Cycle of Bryophytes
Meaning of Bryophytes
Life Cycle
Asexual Reproduction
Sexual Reproduction
Gametophyte Stage
Sporophyte Stage
Conclusion

Content: In bryophytes, a biflagellate sperm goes down to the archegonium via a passage of water film on the plant surface. A diploid zygote in the archegonium develops into a multicellular, diploid embryo by undergoing repeated mitotic divisions. An embryonic sporophyte highly relies on the gametophyte that provides nutrition sources like sugars and minerals etc. An embryonic sporophyte differentiates into three distinct structures, namely foot, stalk, and capsule. The foot provides a base to anchor the young sporophyte. A stalk appears as a slender filament that attaches to the sporangium and originates from the foot cell. A spore capsule appears as a tight cap ( calyptra) that comprises a layer of sterile protective cells around an embryonic sporophyte, at the opposite end of foot. A spore capsule encloses a sporangium sac that holds the heterospores, which function as sexual dispersal units. The spore-producing cells go through meiotic cell division to form spores (haploid). The spore formation occurs, when the foot cell uptakes the nutrients from the gametophyte, and then conducts it to the spore capsule via long stalk or seta.