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A cell, of either sex, directly concerned in the production of a new organism.

One of the pure unit characters commonly existing singly or in pairs in the germ cells of Mendelian hybrids, and exhibited in varying proportion among the organisms themselves. Allelomorphs which under certain circumstances are themselves compound are called hypallelomorphs. See Mendel's law. -- Al*le`lo*mor"phic (#),…

imal, is a cell; the whole series of cells having been formed from the development of the germ cell and by differentiation converted into tissues and organs which, both in plants ans animals, are to be considered as a mass of minute cells communicating with each other. -- Cellular tissue. (a) (Anat.) See conjunctive t…

A simple cell, from the development of which the young of animals are formed; ovum; germ cell.

A sexual cell or germ cell; a conjugating cell which unites with another of like or unlike character to form a new individual. In Bot., gamete designates esp. the similar sex cells of the lower thallophytes which unite by conjugation, forming a zygospore. The gametes of higher plants are of two sorts, sperm (male) and…

have been demonstrated to be the cause of certain diseases. See Germ theory (bellow). -- Germ cell (Biol.), the germ, egg, spore, or cell from which the plant or animal arises. At one time a part of the body of the parent, it finally becomes detached,and by a process of multiplication and growth gives rise to a mass o…

n of parts, supposed to be effected in thousands of years, by the gradual displacement of germ cells.

The fusion of a female germ cell (ovum) with a male germ cell (in animals, a spermatozoön) to form a single new cell endowed with the power of developing into a new individual; fertilization; fecundation.

haracters depend on the presence of determinating factors behaving as units. In any given germ cell each of these is either present or absent. The following example (using letters as symbols of the determining factors and hence also of the individuals possessing them) shows the operation of the law: Tallness being due…

o a mass of cells, constituting a new individual like the parent; an egg, spore, germ, or germ cell. See Illust. of Mycropyle.

he process by which the embryos of all the higher plants and animals are derived from the germ cell. In the simplest case, that of small ova destitute of food yolk, the ovum or egg divides into two similar halves or segments (blastomeres), each of these again divides into two, and so on, thus giving rise to a mass of c…

The male germ cell in animals and plants, the essential element in fertilization; a microscopic animalcule-like particle, usually provided with one or more cilia by which it is capable of active motion. In animals, the familiar type is that of a small, more or less ovoid head, with a delicate threadlike cilium, or tail…