Library / English Dictionary

GAMETE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mature sexual reproductive cell having a single set of unpaired chromosomes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("gamete" is a kind of...):

germ cell; reproductive cell; sex cell (a spermatozoon or an ovum; a cell responsible for transmitting DNA to the next generation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gamete"):

anisogamete (either of a pair of unlike gametes especially those unlike in size)

isogamete (either of a pair of conjugating gametes of the same size and structure)

sperm; sperm cell; spermatozoan; spermatozoon (the male reproductive cell; the male gamete)

egg cell; ovum (the female reproductive cell; the female gamete)

spermatid (an immature gamete produced by a spermatocyte; develops into a spermatozoon)

oosphere (a gamete; used especially of lower plants)

antherozoid; spermatozoid (a motile male gamete of a plant such as an alga or fern or gymnosperm)

Credits

 Context examples: 

This allele, which encodes follicle-stimulating hormone receptor protein, plays a role in the regulation of female gamete generation, hormone signaling and gonad development.

(FSHR wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Human EG cells are derived from the primordial germ cells, which occurs in a specific part of the embryo/fetus called the gonadal ridge, and which normally develop into mature gametes (eggs and sperm).

(EG Cell Line, NCI Thesaurus)

A term used to describe collectively a number of noncoital methods of conception that are used to treat infertility with donor or nondonor eggs and sperm including in vitro fertilization (IVF), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT).

(Assisted Reproductive Technology, NCI Dictionary)

Disruptions in this process may result in aneuploidy of the resulting gametes, infertility in affected patients and trisomy in progeny.

(Meiotic Recombination, NCI Thesaurus)

Two copies of a chromosome pass into the same gamete, leaving the other gamete as nullisomy. 95% of the Down Syndrome birth were result of meiotic disjunction.

(Meiotic Nondisjunction, NCI Thesaurus)