Brief Note on Generative Cell

The generative cell and the sperm spend their entire natural lives enclosed within the vegetative cell’s protective shell. 

It is generated during the first division of the microspore and divides in the pollen grain or pollen tube to form two sperm cells, which are then released into the surrounding environment.

As a result, the generative cell is never unattached from the vegetative cell in which it has been implanted. 

Similar to egg yolks, sperm are embedded in the reproductive cell of the pollen grain or pollen tube, but they are released from this cell into the embryo sac, which is normally located in the degenerating synergid. 

It is during this time that they are able to travel a short distance to the egg or central cell, where they fuse with the female nuclei, that they become free of the vegetative cell.

 Formation of generative cells 

Microspores form generative cells as a result of asymmetric cell division, which occurs in microspores.

The creation of the cell walls of generative cells is signalled by the accumulation of osmiophilic lipid droplets in the cytoplasm of vegetative cells, which are found in the cell walls of generative cells and are seen in the cytoplasm of generative cells after cell division has occurred.

Vegetative Cells

In microbiology, vegetative cells are the cells that are normally developing and creating endospores (spore-like structures).

The nature of spores is such that they are dehydrated and biologically inert, and they can survive for hundreds of years in the environment.

 Within 90 minutes of being exposed to favourable conditions, spores can germinate and form vegetative cells in the host cell. 

Vegetative cells are typically gram-positive cells, with only a few exceptions being gram-negative cells. 

There is no refraction in their tiny appearance.

The importance of vegetative cells 

These are cells that are not capable of reproducing.

After the pollen arrives on the stigma of the flower, they work together to build the pollen tube.

These play a role in the delivery of male gametes into the embryo sac during fertilisation.

The cells turn them into long tube-like structures, and they are greater in size when compared to generative cells, which are smaller.

Example of a vegetative cell

It is possible for a cell to be considered vegetative if it does not participate in the creation of gametes in any way. 

These cells are generated from cells that already exist as a result of the process of asexual reproduction. 

The vegetative cells of bacteria are the normal live cells that exist in the organism. 

Somatic cells are the vegetative cells of multicellular organisms that are capable of reproducing themselves. 

The fungal hyphae are formed from the vegetative cells of the fungus genus. 

The vegetative cells of fungi have a strong cell wall that protects them from the environment.

The distinction between a vegetative cell and a generative cell

It is important to note that the primary distinction between vegetative and generative cells is that while the vegetative cell generates one tube cell during pollen development, the generative cell produces two sperm cells during pollen formation.

Generative cells are the second type of cells that are formed by the microspores as a result of the asymmetric cell division that occurs during this process.

 Following the process of cell division, the collection of droplets of osmiophilic lipid in the cytoplasm of the vegetative cell, which lines the cell wall of the generative cell, is known as osmiophilic lipid accumulation. 

Additionally, following cell division, the amyloplasts filled with starch in the cytoplasm of the vegetative cells may be seen accumulating in their cytoplasm.

The pollen grain’s reproductive cells are primarily responsible for the generation of new pollen cells in the pollen grain. 

The result of this is that after pollination occurs in the angiosperms, they create two sperm cells of which one sperm cell combines with the egg, causing it to develop into the zygote, which eventually develops into the seed.

 Upon joining with the centre cell (binucleate), the second sperm cell develops into a primary endosperm cell (spermatozoa). Double fertilisation is the term used to describe the process.

Conclusion

During the first division of the pollen grain protoplast, it divides into two unequal cells: a larger vegetative cell or tube cell and a smaller generative cell.

 The pollen grain protoplast divides into two unequal cells during the second division.

 The vegetative cell, also known as the tube cell, contains an abundance of food reserves as well as a huge irregularly shaped nucleus.

 Pollen germination results in the development of a pollen tube from a tube cell in the pollen grain.

 It has a spindle shape and contains thick cytoplasm and nucleus, and it divides mitotically into two sperm cells, which pass via the pollen tube and enter the embryo sac of a flower.