RB INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE‘Taking you all the way to success’ CLASS-10TH (How do organisms reproduce?

Asexual Reproduction

 It involves only one parent.

 There is no formation and fusion of gametes.
 The young ones formed are almost identical to each other as well as to the
parent cell.
 Asexual reproduction generally occurs during favourable environmental
conditions and when there is an abundance of food.
 It is a faster method of reproduction.

Types of Asexual Reproduction

(i) Fission:
 Fission is an asexual reproduction that is common in most of the unicellular organisms.
 When the fission results in two daughter cells, it is binary fission (e.g. paramecium).
 When fission results in many daughter cells, it is called multiple fission (e.g. Plasmodium).

Cytoplasm

(ii) Budding:
Budding is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism is formed
from a bud of an existing organism. The new organism remains attached to the
parent organism till it gets matured. Organisms like Hydra and yeast reproduce by
budding.

(i) Fragmentation:

Fragmentation is a type of asexual reproduction in which an organism simply

breaks into individual pieces at maturity. These individual small pieces then grow
to form a new organism e.g., Spirogyra.

The main difference between fission and fragmentation is that in fission, a

unicellular parent cell splits into daughter cells, whereas, in fragmentation, a
multicellular parent organism breaks into fragments, developing a new
organism.

(ii) Regeneration: It is the ability of organisms to develop their lost parts. Some
organisms show have high regenerative capacity it is also a means of reproduction
for example; Planaria. (Regeneration is carried out by specialized cells which
redivide to form a mass of cells from which different cells undergo changes to
become different cell types and tissues. These changes occur in an organized
sequence known as development).

(iv) Spore Formation: Eg: Rhizopus (a fungus). Rhizopus body is made up of

thread-like structures called hyphae. The erect hyphae bear sporangia inside which
reproductive structures called spores are formed. Spores are asexually reproducing
bodies. When the spores fall on a suitable medium, each one forms a new
individual.

(v) Vegetative Propagation: Method by which plants reproduce by their vegetative

parts such as roots, stems, and leaves.

Mint reproduces naturally by roots. Sugarcane, jasmine by stems and Bryophyllum

by leaves.

Importance of Vegetative Propagation

 Plants can bear flowers and fruits earlier.

 Plants which have lost the ability to produce viable seeds can also reproduce
by vegetative propagation.
 All plants are genetically almost similar to the parent plant.
 Seedless varieties can be obtained.
  The property of vegetative propagation is used in developing methods like
layering, grafting to grow many plants like sugarcane, roses, or grapes.

Tissue Culture: The technique of developing new plants from a cell or tissue in a
nutrient medium under appropriate conditions. The cell or tissue is placed in a
nutrient medium where it forms a mass of cells called callus. This callus is then
transferred to another nutrient medium where it differentiates and forms a new plant.

Sexual Reproduction

The mode of reproduction that takes place with the involvement of two individuals of
two different sexes i.e. male and female.
During sexual reproduction, male organism having male sex organs produces male
gametes i.e. sperms which are small and motile and the female organism having
female sex organs produces ova. Male and female gametes fuse to form a zygote
that grows into a new organism.

Significance of Sexual Reproduction:

1) Sexual reproduction results in genetic variation among the organisms of a population.

2) It help the organism to better survive in unfavorable condition.
3) It supports evolution and formation of new species.
4) It helps to maintain the continuity of species.

Limitation of Sexual Reproduction: Sexual reproduction involves the process of

combining DNA from two different organisms which may bring some undesirable
features also.

Sexual reproduction in flowering plants

 The reproductive parts are present in the flower.

 The parts of the flower are sepals, petals, stamens and carpels.
 Sepals are green structures that protect the inner parts when the flower is in
bud stage.
 Petals are colourful and attract the insects for pollination.
 Stamens are male reproductive parts and produce pollen grains that contain
male gametes. Each stamen has two parts—
 Filament i.e. stalk and Anther i.e. swollen top part which has large number of
pollen grains.
The carpel is the female reproductive part and produces ovules that contain female
gametes. It has three parts—Stigma which is top sticky part and receives pollen
grains during pollination. Style which is the middle long part and ovary which is the
swollen part and contains ovules. Each ovule has an egg cell i.e. female gamete.

The flowers may be bisexual i.e. having both stamens and carpels for example;
Mustard China Rose (Hibiscus).
The flower may be unisexual i.e. paving either stamens or carpels for example;
Papaya, Watermelon.

Pollination: The process of transfer of pollen grains from an anther to the stigma of
the flower is pollination. Two types of pollination are:
(i) Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of the
same flower or another flower of the same plant.
(ii) Cross-pollination: The transfer of pollen grains from the anther to the stigma of
another flower or another flower of a different plant of the same species. It
generally takes place with the help of some agents like insects, birds, wind and
water.

Fertilization:

Fertilization is the process of fusion of male and female gamete to form a zygote
during sexual reproduction. Pollination is followed by fertilisation in plants. The
events are
Pollen grains land on the stigma of the ovary.
Pollen tubes grow out of the pollen grains, travel through the style and reach
the ovary, through micropyle or filiform apparatus.
Pollen tube has two male germ cells. Each ovule has two polar nuclei and a female
germ cell (egg).

Pollen tube releases two male germ cells inside the ovule, one of them fuses with
female germ cell and forms a zygote which grows into the baby plant i.e. embryo,
the fusion is known as syngamy. The other male germ cell fuses with two polar
nuclei, the process is known as triple fusion. So in flowering plants two fusions take
place during fertilisation. It is called double fertilisation.

Seed and its parts: The advantage of seed is that it protects the future plant i.e.
embryo.

Seed has two parts: Cotyledons and Embryo. Cotyledons store food for the future
plant.

Embryo has two

parts: plumule and radicle.
Plumule develops into
shoot and radicle develops
into root.
The process of
development of a seedling
from the embryo under appropriate conditions is known as germination.
Reproduction in Human Being

Human beings show sexual reproduction. Male parent produces male gametes
called sperms. Female parent produces female gametes called ova. Sperms have
tail and are therefore, motile. They are produced in large numbers in the testes.
Ovum is bigger(compared to sperm), non-motile and only one ovary produces one
ovum in one month. Both the gametes are microscopic unicellular and have half
the number of chromosomes as compared to the body cells.

Human beings become reproductively active from the onset of puberty. Puberty is
the period during adolescence when the rate of general body growth begins to slow
down and reproductive tissues begin to mature. Onset of puberty in human males is
between 11 to 13 yrs of age, while in human females is between 10 to 12 yrs. of
age. Puberty is associated with many physical, mental, emotional and psychological
changes in boys and girls which occur slowly over a period of time. These are called
secondary sexual characters. Eg: thick dark hair start growing in new parts of the
body such as arm pits and genital area between the thighs. Thinner hair appear on
legs, arms and face. Skin becomes oily and pimples may appear on the face.
Individuals become more conscious of their bodies become more independent, more
aggressive etc.

In case of boys beard and mustache start appearing, voice begins to crack,
reproductive organs develop and start producing releasing sperms.
In case of girls, breast size begins to increase, skin of the nipples darkens,
menstruation starts.
The act of mating between the male and female partner is termed as copulation.

Male Reproductive System: Male reproductive system consists of the following

components

 1 pair of testes
 A system of ducts
 Epididymis
 Vas deferens or the sperm duct
 Urethra
A system of glands
 Seminal vesicles
 Prostrate gland
A copulatory organ (An organ utilized by the male animal for insemination,
that is, to deposit spermatozoa directly into the female reproductive
tract) called a penis.

One pair of testes are present in a bag-like structure called scrotum which lies
outside the abdominal cavity. This is so because the testes have to be maintained at
about 3 degree lesser temperature than the body in order to produce functional
sperms.

Functions of testes

 To produce male gametes i.e. the sperms.

 To produce a male reproductive hormone called testosterone which is
responsible for producing sperms as well as secondary sexual characteristics
in males.

Attached to each testis is a highly coiled tube called epididymis. The sperms are
stored here and they mature in the epididymis.
Each epididymis leads into the sperm duct or the vas-deferens.

Function of the vas-deferens: It is meant for the passage of the sperms in the
male body.

Functions of the glands: They produce different secretions which provide nutrition
as well as medium for locomotion to the sperms.
The secretions of the glands along with the sperms is known as semen.

Function of the urethra: It is the common passage for both semen and urine from
the body to. the outside.

Penis: It is the organ which is used to introduce semen into the female body. It is
richly supplied with blood vessels.

Female Reproductive System: It consists of the following components

 1 pair of ovaries
 1 pair of fallopian tubes or
oviducts
 A uterus/womb
 A vagina/birth canal.

Each ovary is almond shaped and

present inside the abdominal
cavity. At the time of birth each girl
child already contains thousands
of immature ova. These ova start
maturing only from the time of
puberty. Only one ovum is produced by one ovary in one month and each ovary
releases an ovum in alternate months. The release of an ovum from the ovary into
the abdominal cavity is known as ovulation.

Functions of ovary

 To produce and release ova

 To produce female reproductive hormones: estrogen and progesterone.

There are two fallopian tubes. The end lying close to the ovary has finger like
structures called fimbriae. The two fallopian tubes unite to form an elastic bag like
structure called uterus.

Function of the fallopian tubes: It is the site of fertilization between the male and
the female gametes and formation of the zygote early embryo.
The inner lining of the uterus is richly supplied with blood vessels. The narrow end of
the uterus is called cervix.

Function of the uterus: The embryo formed in the fallopian tube comes down and
gets attached to the endometrium (implantation) and develops for the next nine
months till the baby is delivered.

Vagina: The uterus opens into the vagina through the cervix. The vagina is a
muscular tube through which the baby is delivered at the end of nine months. It also
serves as the canal for receiving the semen at the time of copulation.

The semen is discharged into the vaginal tract during copulation. The sperms travel
upwards and reach the fallopian tube where one sperm fuses with the ovum to form
the zygote. The zygote divides and redivides as it descends into the uterus and the
embryo gets implanted in the endometrium. The endometrium thickens so as to
receive the embryo.

The embryo gets nutrition from the mother’s blood with the help of a special tissue
called placenta, which is a disk-like structure embeded in the uterine wall. (It
contains finger-like villi on the embryo side, while on the mother’s side blood spaces
surround the villi. Villi provides a large surface area for glucose and oxygen to pass
from the mother to the developing embryo and the wastes to pass from the embryo
to the mother through the placenta) When the embryo starts resembling a human is
formed, it is termed as a foetus. The foetus continues to develop inside the uterus
for almost nine months after which the baby is delivered as a result of rhythmic
contractions of the uterine muscles.
Menstruation: It is the loss of blood, mucous along with the unfertilized ovum and
the ruptured cells through the vagina of the female. It is a 28-day cycle which occurs
in every reproductively active female (from puberty). The flow of blood continues for
2 to 8 days. If the ovum does not get fertilized, then there is loss of blood and
mucous etc. through the vagina.

In case the ovum gets fertilized, then the menstruation does not occur. A lady with a
developing embryo in her womb is termed as pregnant. The beginning of
menstruation at puberty is known as menarche. The stopage of menstruation when
the woman is 45-50 yrs of age is called menopause.

Reproductive Health
A number of diseases occur as a result of sexual intercourse if one of the partners is
infected. These are known as sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s). They can be
caused by bacteria for example; syphilis, gonorrhoea; or caused by a virus for
example; HIV-AIDS, warts etc. The transmission of these diseases can be avoided
by using birth control measures such as using a condom during the sexual act.

Birth control measures

1) Mechanical methods: These are used to prevent the passage of semen to

the follopian tube :
(i) Use of condoms: Condoms are thin rubber tubes worn over the penis
before sexual intercourse. The
semen gets collected in this and
is not discharged into the
vagina.
(ii) Diaphragm: It is a thin rubber
fixed over a flexible metal ring
which is fitted over the cervix in
a woman’s body by a doctor.
(Female condoms)
This methods cause side
effects.
2) Chemical methods

 Vaginal pills: These are strong

sperm-killing chemicals which
are injected into the vagina just before copulation.
 Oral contraceptive pills: These are hormonal pills which prevent ovulation but
do not stop menstruation.

3) Surgical methods
 Vasectomy: It involves cutting and ligating the vas deferens in males.
 Tubectomy: It involves cutting and ligating Reproductive organs the fallopian
tubes in females.

4) Intra Uterine Contraceptive Device (IUCD) or loop: It is inserted in the

uterus and its insertion causes certain secretion which prevents the
implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall..