Suspensor

For the fictional technology from the Dune universe, see Suspensor (Dune)

Additional recommended knowledge

How to quickly check pipettes?

Guide to balance cleaning: 8 simple steps

Weighing the right way

Suspensors are filamentous structural formations employed by Fungi in holding a zygospore between two strains of hyphae.

• Also used by plant zygotes in angiosperms in connecting the endosperm to an embryo. During embryo development in angiosperm seeds, normal development involves asymmetrical division of the unicellular embryo, inducing polarity. The smaller terminal cell divides to become the proembryo while the larger basal cell divides laterally to form the suspensor. The suspensor is analogous to a placental mammalian's umbilical cord.

References

• C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell, Introductory Mycology, 4^th ed. (John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken NJ, 2004) ISBN 0-471-52229-5
• Neil A. Campbell, Jane B. Reece, "Biology, Seventh Edition" (Bejamin Cummings, San Francisco, CA 94111) ISBN 0-8053-6777-2