gamete
Sign in to saveA gamete ( ), reproductive cell, or sex cell, is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. The name gamete was introduced by the German cytologist Eduard Strasburger in 1878.
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A gamete is a reproductive cell that contains half the genetic information of a regular body cell and is used in sexual reproduction. It matters because two gametes fuse together during fertilization to create a new organism with a complete set of genetic information from both parents.
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Article
7 sectionsContents
- Evolution
- Differences between gametes and somatic cells
- Artificial gametes
- Plants
- See also
- References
- Footnotes
A gamete ( ), reproductive cell, or sex cell, is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. The name gamete was introduced by the German cytologist Eduard Strasburger in 1878.
The type of gamete an organism produces determines its sex and sets the basis for the sexual roles and sexual selection. In the majority of species, the gametes are of different sizes, a condition known as anisogamy or heterogamy that applies to humans and other mammals. For example, the human ovum has approximately 100,000 times the volume of a single human sperm cell. Gametes of both mating individuals can also be the same size and shape, a condition known as isogamy.