To produce 102 pollen grains, how many meiotic divisions are required ?

Options

A. 25
B. 25.5
C. 26
D. 27

Answer

To solve the question of how many meiotic divisions are required to produce 102 pollen grains, we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understand the Process of Pollen Grain Formation**:
- Pollen grains are produced from microspore mother cells (also known as microsporocytes) through meiotic division.
- Each microspore mother cell undergoes meiosis, resulting in the formation of four microspores.

2. **Determine the Relationship Between Meiotic Divisions and Pollen Grains**:
- From one meiotic division, four microspores (which develop into pollen grains) are produced.
- Therefore, to find out how many meiotic divisions are needed to produce a certain number of pollen grains, we can use the formula:
\[ \text{Number of meiotic divisions} = \frac{\text{Number of pollen grains}}{4} \]

3. **Calculate the Required Meiotic Divisions for 102 Pollen Grains**:
- Plugging in the value:
\[ \text{Number of meiotic divisions} = \frac{102}{4} = 25.5 \]

4. **Interpret the Result**:
- Since meiotic divisions cannot be fractional (you cannot have half a meiotic division), we need to round up to the next whole number.
- Therefore, we need 26 meiotic divisions to ensure that we have enough microspores to produce at least 102 pollen grains.

5. **Conclusion**:
- The answer to the question is that **26 meiotic divisions are required** to produce 102 pollen grains.

### Final Answer:
**26 meiotic divisions are required to produce 102 pollen grains.**