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"Asexual reproduction is not congenial for long-term sustenance and evolutionary processes of the species because of genetic uniformity of the progeny. Sexual reproduction, which permits genetic recombination, therefore, emerged as the dominant mode. Although angiosperms were the last to evolve as land plants, they soon became the most successful and dominant group amongst land plants. Their success is largely due to the mode of their reproduction through the evolution of the flower and the consequent advantages it brought in. Scientific progress in understanding the structural and functional aspects of reproduction has been very slow. Initial studies on reproductive biology of angiosperms were largely confined to examining embryological details using fixed and sectioned materials. Gradually data accumulated over the years on the developmental details of the pollen grains, ovules and female gametophyte, double fertilization, embryo and endosperm, seed and fruit development. Following the development of electron microscopy and histochemistry, embryological details could be further elaborated. Development of aseptic culture techniques broadened scope for experimental studies on embryological processes leading to a slow but steady understanding of the functional details of embryological structures. These developments were incorporated in some books on embryology under a chapter on experimental embryology. Surprisingly, pollination on which plenty of literature has long been available and which is a critical requirement for angiosperm reproduction was not considered a part of embryology. At a broader level, there has been hardly any integrated account of embryological processes in relation to the structure with their function. It is high time this subject be taught as Reproductive Biology of Angiosperms, rather than as embryology, integrating all advances in our understanding starting with flower development until fruit and seed maturation and their dispersal. Keeping this need in mind, this book is an attempt to focus on the core concepts of plant reproduction biology based on updated, relevant, and recent information emerging from different fields of biology"--
List of contents
Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Reproductive Biology of Flowering Plants; Chapter 2. The Flower; Chapter 3. Brief Historical Account on Transformation of Classical Embryology to Integrated Reproductive Biology; Chapter 4. The Anther and Male Gametophyte; Chapter 5. The Ovule and Female Gametophyte; Chapter 6. Pollination; Chapter 7. Pollen-Pistil Interaction and Fertilization; Chapter 8. Self-Incompatibility; Chapter 9. Endosperm; Chapter 10. Zygotic Embryogenesis; Chapter 11. Polyembryony and Apomixis; Chapter 12. Seed; Chapter 13. Plant Germline Transformation; Color Plates.
About the author
Yash Mangla teaches at Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi. His specialisation is developmental, molecular, and reproductive biology of angiosperms.Priyanka Khanduri teaches at Vidyasagar Metropolitan College, Kolkata. In the past, she taught at Maitreyi College, University of Delhi. Her research interests include phylogenetics, developmental and reproductive biology of angiosperms.Charu Khosla Gupta is a Professor of Botany at Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi with a teaching and research experience spanning twenty-four years. Her specialization is reproductive biology of angiosperms.
Summary
Designed for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing courses in life sciences, botany, and plant sciences. The book includes elaborate accounts of classical concepts of plant embryology along with core concepts of the reproductive biology of angiosperms.
