Spore
Spore
Research domain
Taxonomic markers
Definition
The result of the Sporogony. Propagules produced either sexually or asexually, generally unicellular, able to form an adult without fusion with another cell. Spores are haploid in Botany and Apicomplexa (they are called oocysts when diploid). Spores are also called Sporozoites when motile and used to infect novel hosts. Spore can be also a resting stage (see Hypnospore). Spores are often the most valuable living stage for taxonomy of parasites; these free-living stages often retained main ancestral characteristics of lineages, features that could have been lost as soon as the parasite is infecting its host.