Gametes are an organism’s reproductive cells and have also been referred to as “sex cells.” Male gametes are called sperm; in females, they are called “ova” or egg cells. Gametes are haploid cells, which means that each cell carries one copy of each chromosome. These reproductive cells fuse with other haploid cells during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually (such as humans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gametes, also known as \u201csex cells,\u201d are an organism\u2019s reproductive cells. These cells are called ova or egg cells in females; in males, gametes are called sperm<\/a>. Essentially, a gamete is a haploid cell \u2014 a cell that contains 23 chromosomes<\/a>, half the normal 46 \u2014 that fuses with another haploid cell for the purpose of reproduction (called fertilization<\/a>). These cells carry one copy of a chromosome from each parent, and are responsible for carrying half of the genetic information for one individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Egg cells mature in the ovaries and are larger and non-motile (meaning they don\u2019t move on their own). Sperm, by contrast, is highly motile<\/a>, and develops in the testes<\/a>. During fertilization, the sperm and the egg cells fuse to form a new diploid organism with the full 46 chromosomes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gametes are formed by gametogenesis in both males and females. Gametogenesis that occurs in males is referred to as \u201cspermatogenesis\u201d;, in females it is known as \u201coogenesis.\u201d During gametogenesis, immature germ cells undergo meiosis, or division, to produce four haploid cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anisogamy or heterogamy is the sexual reproduction process involving the fusion of two gametes which differ in size or form. The smaller gamete is the male\u2019s sperm, while the larger cell is the female\u2019s egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gametes can also be classified by their size. Microgametes tend to be smaller, extremely motile, and produced in large quantities (such as a male\u2019s sperm). Macrogametes, by contrast, are larger, non-motile, and produced in smaller numbers (such as a female\u2019s ova).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dutch microbiologist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek<\/a> was the first one to discover spermatozoa back in 1677. Over 100 years later, Karl Ernst von Baer<\/a> discovered the mammalian ovum in 1827. His colleague, Oscar Hertwig,<\/a> later observed the fusion of the ova and spermatozoa in 1876 in a starfish. However, it wasn\u2019t until German cytologist Eduard Strasburger<\/a> that gametes got their name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"glossary","glossary-cat":[],"class_list":["post-5497","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/5497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/5497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17195,"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/5497\/revisions\/17195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"glossary-cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.givelegacy.com\/vnext\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fglossary-cat&post=5497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Types of gametes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
History of gametes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n