polar bodies

[gamze]

hi

our genetics teacher has asked us about possible functions of polar bodies (if they are unfunctional, why do not they fully disappear but limit their smallness in some way; etc) and I could only find some diagnostic usages of polar bodies and that their nuclei could be inserted into enucleated eggs to produce viable zygotes.

I also wonder if there is any mechanism for determining which of the cells will become the polar body or if it's completely random.

does anybody know anything about this subject?

[garytse86]

You might find these posts useful:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=21125
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=21283

[gamze]

thanks a lot
in our lecture we discussed some functions of polar bodies. an interesting one was that second polar body may be required for cleavage of the embryo(creating the polarity of it)

[garytse86]

cool, I didn't know that!