Initiation of an Embryonic Cell

The physical, observable transition from a nonembryogenic cell to an embryogenic cell in somatic embryogenesis appears to occur when the progenitor cell undergoes an unequal division, resulting in a larger vacuolate cell and a small, densely (embryogenic) cytoplasmic cell. The embryogenic cell then either continues to divide irregularly to form a proembryonal complex or divides in a highly organized manner to form a somatic embryo.