Knowra Endosperm Endosperm Endosperm is seed tissue that stores or supplies nutrients for a developing plant embryo. In flowering plants it usually forms after fertilization of the central cell.
Double fertilization : A flowering-plant reproductive process in which two sperm cells fertilize different cells in the ovule. One fertilization event produces the endosperm, typically with three chromosome sets.
Seed : A plant reproductive structure containing an embryo, a protective covering, and stored resources. Endosperm is one of the tissues that can provision the embryo within a seed.
Cereal grain : A dry, one-seeded fruit of a grass, including wheat, rice, and maize. Its edible interior is dominated by endosperm.
Perisperm : A seed storage tissue derived from the nucellus, the ovule's maternal tissue. It stores reserves like endosperm but has a different developmental origin.
Genomic imprinting : An epigenetic process in which gene activity depends on whether an allele came from the mother or father. Imprinted genes in endosperm can affect resource allocation and seed growth.
Central cell : The large cell in a flowering-plant embryo sac that fuses with a sperm cell during fertilization. Its fertilization initiates endosperm development in most flowering plants.
Embryo sac : The female gametophyte inside a flowering-plant ovule, containing the egg and central cell. The central cell of this structure gives rise to most flowering-plant endosperm.
Wheat flour : A powder made by milling wheat kernels, chiefly from their starchy endosperm. Refining removes bran and germ while retaining much of the endosperm.
Nucellus : The maternal tissue inside an ovule that surrounds the embryo sac. It can persist as perisperm rather than being consumed or replaced during seed development.
Endosperm balance number : A genetic measure used to predict whether a plant cross will produce viable endosperm and seeds. It captures how parental genome dosage can determine successful endosperm development.
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