Question

What is polyembryony and how can it be commercially exploited?

Answer 1

In humans polyembryony process results the identical twins. In single egg two embryos develop is called as the polyembryony process. It is important in hybrid and breeding process. Animal kingdom nine banded armadillos are the best example for polyembryony. There is two theories are available in polyembryony. They are neurohormone theory and hybridization theory. Development of monosporic embryo results the false polyembryony.

Complete answer:
In polyembryony two embryos grow inside the fertilized egg. It occurs regularly in vertebrates, invertebrates and plants. The output from polyembryony is genetically identical. Cleavage and adventives are the two types of polyembryony. In cleavage polyembryony the embryos arise within the embryo sac not in the synergids. In adventives polyembryony the embryo lives on the outside of the embryo sac and arises from the tissue. Gymnosperm commonly has polyembryony. Sometimes polyembryony occurs because the ovule has two embryo sacs. Same megaspore mother cells cause polyembryony. Nucellar cells are also responsible for the polyembryony. Polyembryony is important in horticulture and plant breeding. Nucellar embryos are not affected by any diseases. It is used to propagate the fruit tree like citrus. It is responsible for development of the homozygous diploid. True polyembryony means the two or more embryos are coming from the same embryo sac. Poly embryonic provides the seeds of hybrid varieties at a lower cost. These types of plants survive under different conditions. It is used in multiple seedling techniques. The polyembryony plant is highly expensive in markets. But the production requires less cost. So it is highly profitable.

Note:
In facultative polyembryony both sexual and nucellar embryo grows together. If the embryos comes from the maternal sporophytic cells are called adventives embryos. In embryo development the maternal cells are important. This is called the nucellus and integument. The nucellar embryonic is use in horticulture. Polyembryony classified based on the frequency. They are strictly polyembryonic, nearly monoembryonic, polyembryonic. Based genetic composition it may be classified as gametophyte and sporophyte.