Sex-specific Positioning of the Mating Structure in Scale-bearing Gametes of Monostroma angicava and Collinsiella cava (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta): A Possible Widespread Difference between Male and Female Gametes.

Abstract

The gametes of chlorophytes can be divided into two morphological types (types α and β) based on the position of the mating structure relative to the flagella and eyespot. To elucidate the relationship between the morphological types and the sexes, we studied spatial relationships between the flagellar apparatus-eyespot-mating structures in biflagellate male and female gametes and their fate after fertilization in the anisogamous (Monostroma angicava) and the slightly anisogamous species (Collinsiella cava) using field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The smaller male and larger female gametes of M. angicava had two basal bodies arranged at a 180° angle and the cell surface coated with square-shaped body scales, except for the flagella and mating structures. The mating structure of the female gamete was located on the same side of the flagellar beat plane as the eyespot (type β), whereas that of the male gamete was located on the opposite side (type α). This mating structure arrangement was also confirmed in C. cava. The initial fusion when male and female gametes were mixed involved the mating structures. In a fusing pair of gametes, each flagellum of one gamete lay alongside one flagellum of the other gamete. As fusion proceeded, the gamete pair transformed into a quadriflagellate planozygote, in which the four basal bodies were arranged in a cruciate pattern. The eyespots were positioned side-by-side on the same side of the cell. These results suggest that the two morphological types of gametes are intimately correlated with the particular sexes.