Polar Body
When certain diploid cells in animals undergo cytokinesis after meiosis to produce egg cells, they sometimes divide unevenly. Most of the cytoplasm is segregated into one daughter cell, which becomes the egg or ovum. The other, smaller cells are called polar bodies. They frequently die (apoptose) and disappear, but in some cases they remain and can be important in the life cycle of the organism.
Read more about Polar Body: Twinning, Additional Images, Popular Culture
Other articles related to "polar body, polar":
... The first and second polar body of the oocyte are extruded at the time of the conclusion of the meiotic division, normally the first polar body is noted after ...
... The polar body of an n-dimensional unit sphere is itself another unit sphere ... The polar body of a polyhedron or polytope is its dual polyhedron or dual polytope ... In particular, the polar body of a cube or hypercube is an octahedron or cross polytope ...
... Robert Heinlein's novel Beyond This Horizon mentioned polar bodies in a discussion of genetics ...
... The first division results in a small "first polar body" and a much larger daughter cell ... The daughter cell then divides again to form a small "second polar body" and a larger ovum ... Since the first polar body normally disintegrates rather than dividing again, meiosis in female mammals results in three products, the oocyte and two polar bodies ...
Famous quotes containing the words body and/or polar:
“I had rather munch a crust of brown bread and an onion in a corner, without any more ado or ceremony, than feed upon turkey at another man’s table, where one is fain to sit mincing and chewing his meat an hour together, drink little, be always wiping his fingers and his chops, and never dare to cough nor sneeze, though he has never so much a mind to it, nor do a many things which a body may do freely by one’s self.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“Professor Fate: My apologies. There’s a polar bear in our car.”
—Arthur Ross. Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)