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Multiple Choice Questions · Q3

Q.The ploidy level is NOT the same in ......

(a) Integuments and nucellus
(b) Root tip and shoot tip
(c) Secondary nucleus and endosperm
(d) Antipodals and synergids
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The secondary nucleus (diploid, from fusion of two haploid polar nuclei) and the endosperm it gives rise to (triploid, after triple fusion with a male gamete) differ in ploidy, unlike the other listed pairs, which share the same ploidy level.

Checking each pair: integuments and nucellus are both maternal, sporophytic, diploid tissues, so their ploidy matches. Root tip and shoot tip are both ordinary diploid somatic (sporophytic) tissues of the same plant, so they match too. Antipodals and synergids are both haploid products of the embryo sac's free-nuclear divisions, so they also match. Only the secondary nucleus and endosperm differ: the secondary nucleus is diploid, formed by the fusion of the two haploid polar nuclei, but once it undergoes triple fusion with a second male gamete during double fertilization, it becomes the triploid primary endosperm nucleus, which develops into triploid endosperm tissue, a full ploidy step apart from the diploid secondary nucleus it arose from.

This is a typical Maharashtra HSC Biology question; the underlying idea appears word-for-word in NCERT Class 12 Biology, so CBSE students can use the same reasoning.

✓Final answer

(c) Secondary nucleus and endosperm

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