Summary
Apogamety, the occurrence of which has been either denied or criticized by some authors, presents several problems that should be carefully considered in argumentation. Gynogenesis, which comprises zygotic, parthenogenetic, and apogametic embryos, an actively developing branch of tissue culture, is of no help here being itself subject to similar criticism. The discussion on apogamety awaits methodological progress which would yield answers to the following questions: are all cells of embryo sac potentially gametic; in what way are the mechanisms of cell differentiation and specialization of cells within embryo sac correlated with their totipotency; what are the limitations of plant cell totipotency in embryo sacs. The above problems of apogamety are not only an enigma for embryology and reproduction of angiosperms but they belong also to the crucial problems of the general biology which might be solved by studies of corresponding molecular mechanisms and experiments in tissue culture.
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Czapik, R. Enigma of apogamety. Protoplasma 208, 206–210 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01279091
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01279091