How many microspores are formed from 10 microspore mother cells by meiosis ?

Options

A. 10
B. 20
C. 40
D. 80

Answer

To determine how many microspores are formed from 10 microspore mother cells by meiosis, we can follow these steps:

### Step-by-Step Solution:

1. **Understand the Definition**: Microspores are the male gametes in flowering plants, which develop into pollen grains. These are produced from microspore mother cells (also known as pollen mother cells).

2. **Identify the Process**: Microspore mother cells undergo meiosis, a type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half, resulting in haploid cells.

3. **Determine the Outcome of Meiosis**: Each microspore mother cell (2n) divides by meiosis to produce four microspores (n).

4. **Calculate for One Cell**: Since one microspore mother cell produces 4 microspores, we can express this as:
\[ \text{Microspores from 1 microspore mother cell} = 4 \]

5. **Calculate for Multiple Cells**: If we have 10 microspore mother cells, we can calculate the total number of microspores produced by multiplying the number of microspore mother cells by the number of microspores produced by each:
\[ \text{Total microspores} = 10 \text{ microspore mother cells} \times 4 \text{ microspores/cell} = 40 \text{ microspores} \]

6. **Final Answer**: Therefore, the total number of microspores formed from 10 microspore mother cells by meiosis is **40**.