<P> Since most plants carry both male and female reproductive organs in their flowers, there is a high risk of self - pollination and thus inbreeding . Some plants use the control of pollen germination as a way to prevent this self - pollination . Germination and growth of the pollen tube involve molecular signaling between stigma and pollen . In self - incompatibility in plants, the stigma of certain plants can molecularly recognize pollen from the same plant and prevent it from germinating . </P> <P> Germination can also refer to the emergence of cells from resting spores and the growth of sporeling hyphae or thalli from spores in fungi, algae and some plants . </P> <P> Conidia are asexual reproductive (reproduction without the fusing of gametes) spores of fungi which germinate under specific conditions . A variety of cells can be formed from the germinating conidia . The most common are germ tubes which grow and develop into hyphae . Another type of cell is a conidial anastomosis tube (CAT); these differ from germ tubes in that they are thinner, shorter, lack branches, exhibit determinate growth and home toward each other . Each cell is of a tubular shape, but the conidial anastomosis tube forms a bridge that allows fusion between conidia . </P> <P> In resting spores, germination involves cracking the thick cell wall of the dormant spore . For example, in zygomycetes the thick - walled zygosporangium cracks open and the zygospore inside gives rise to the emerging sporangiophore . In slime molds, germination refers to the emergence of amoeboid cells from the hardened spore . After cracking the spore coat, further development involves cell division, but not necessarily the development of a multicellular organism (for example in the free - living amoebas of slime molds). </P>

Biology project to study germination of different types of pulses