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Fertilisation

Key Stage 3

Meaning

Fertilisation is one of the stages of conception in which the male and female sex cells come together to make one cell.

About Fertilisation

  1. In fertilisation the sperm cell uses enzymes in its head to get through the jelly coat of the ovum.
  2. The jelly coat of the ovum then becomes hard, stopping any other sperm entering.
  3. The cell membrane of the sperm cell then fuses with the cell membrane of the ovum and the sperm cell loses its tail.
  4. The nucleus of the sperm cell is then released into the ovum and the nuclei of the ovum and sperm fuse to make one larger nucleus with all the DNA needed to make a new organism.

Key Stage 4

Meaning

Fertilisation is when the male and female gametes come together to make one cell.

About Fertilisation

During fertilisation the two haploid gametes fuse together to form a diploid cell.

References

AQA

Fertilisation, page 170, GCSE Biology; Student Book, Collins, AQA
Fertilisation, page 206, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy; Biology, CGP, AQA
Fertilisation, page 251, GCSE Biology, CGP, AQA
Fertilisation, pages 17, 40, GCSE Combined Science Trilogy 2, Hodder, AQA
Fertilisation, pages 170, 198-199, GCSE Biology; Third Edition, Oxford University Press, AQA

Edexcel

Fertilisation, page 26, GCSE Combined Science; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
Fertilisation, page 32, GCSE Biology; The Revision Guide, CGP, Edexcel
Fertilisation, page 84, GCSE Biology, CGP, Edexcel
Fertilisation, pages 8, 4, 102, GCSE Combined Science, Pearson Edexcel
Fertilisation, pages 8, 50, 52, 146, GCSE Biology, Pearson, Edexcel

OCR

Fertilisation, pages 152, 154, Gateway GCSE Biology, Oxford, OCR