noun

• A mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction to form a zygote.

  ‘Meiosis is the process by which diploid organisms produce haploid gametes capable of sexual reproduction.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Zygotic embryogenesis in animals and plants starts with the fusion of the haploid female and male gametes, giving rise to a diploid zygote.’
  • ‘Once within the gonads, the germ cells differentiate as either male or female gametes.’
  • ‘This virus does not integrate into the fly chromosomes and is only vertically transmitted through male and female gametes.’
  • ‘I assume that each new diploid individual results from the random fusion of a male and a female gamete and that its gender is independent of its autosomal genes.’