Video Transcript
The diagram shows the process of
fertilization in a flowering plant. When the nucleus of one of the
sperm cells and that of the egg cell combine, a zygote is formed. When this zygote undergoes cell
division, what structure does it form? (A) Seeds, (B) fruit, (C) embryo,
or (D) food store.
Let’s start by taking a look at the
process of fertilization in flowering plants, an overview of which is displayed to
us in the image provided by the question.
The first stage of the image shows
a pollen grain landing on a stigma. Pollen grains contain the male sex
cells of flowering plants. Just like in animals such as
humans, the male sex cells of flowering plants are called sperm cells. The stigma is one of the female
reproductive parts of a flower. A structure called the style
separates the stigma from the ovary. The ovary contains one or more
ovules. Each ovule contains one female sex
cell of a flowering plant, an egg cell.
Moving on to the second stage of
the diagram, we can see that a structure called a pollen tube begins to grow out of
the pollen grain and down the style. Two sperm cells travel through this
pollen tube. In the third stage of the diagram,
we can see these sperm cells moving away from the stigma and down the style toward
the ovary.
The final stage of the diagram
displays the fertilization process itself. One of the sperm cells joins with
the egg cell in the ovule, and the sperm and egg cell nuclei fuse together. This forms a cell called a
zygote. The zygote goes through several
cellular divisions to form a structure called an embryo. This newly formed embryo can
develop and grow to eventually form a new, individual plant.
With the information we have
learned, we now know the correct answer to this question. The structure formed when the
zygote undergoes cellular division is a (C) embryo.
