Summary
The embryo sacs of Daucus carota, D. Aureus and D. muricatus are of the Polygonum-type. They contain one egg cell, two synergids, a giant central cell and three antipodal cells that are to a great extent degenerated. The species of Daucus investigated have an egg cell with a vacuole that is large in comparison to the amount of cytoplasm. The most extreme case of reduced cytoplasm with respect to the volume of the vacuole occurs in D. muricatus. The egg cell of this species contains only very few intact plastids and other cytoplasmic organelles. Paternal plastid inheritance in the cross D. muricatus × D. carota is discussed in connection with the small number of cytoplasmic organelles in the female gamete of D. muricatus.
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Hause, G. Ultrastructural investigations of mature embryo sacs of Daaucus carota, D. aureus and D. muricatus — possible cytological explanations of paternal plastid inheritance. Sexual Plant Reprod 4, 288–292 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00200550
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00200550