Brown Algae Structure & Reproduction — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2024Food is stored as complex carbohydrates, which may be in the form of laminarin or mannitol. The vegetative cells have a cellulosic wall usually covered on the outside by a gelatinous coating of algin. The protoplast contains, in addition to plastids, a centrally located vacuole and nucleus. The plant body is usually attached to the substratum by a holdfast, and has a stalk, the stipe and leaf like photosynthetic organ – the frond. Vegetative reproduction takes place by fragmentation. Asexual reproduction in most brown algae is by biflagellate zoospores that are pear-shaped and have two unequal laterally attached flagella.
Brown algae store energy as laminarin or mannitol (not starch like plants), have cellulosic cell walls covered with algin, and reproduce both asexually via biflagellate zoospores and vegetatively by fragmentation. Students commonly confuse brown algae storage products with other algae types or mistake zoospore structure—remember they're pear-shaped with two unequal laterally-attached flagella, not equal flagella. NTA tests this across multiple years because brown algae characteristics are distinctly different from green and red algae, making comparison questions frequent. Focus on: storage carbohydrate type, zoospore morphology, and the presence of algin in the cell wall—these are direct NEET checklist items.
This paragraph was tested 3 times in NEET.
In the members of Phaeophyceae, which of the following statements are correct? A. Asexual reproduction occurs usually by biflagellate zoospores. B. Sexual reproduction is by oogamous method only. C. Stored food is in the form of carbohydrates which is either mannitol or laminarin. D. The major pigments found are chlorophyll a, c and carotenoids and xanthophyll. E. Vegetative cells have a cellulosic wall, usually covered on the outside by gelatinous coating of algin. Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Which of the following algae contains mannitol as reserve food material?
Which one of the following statements is wrong? (NEET 2016 Phase 1)
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.