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
Famous quotes containing the words polar and/or body:
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king—and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms—I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)