pro-oocyte

plural pro-oocytes

1. biologyAn undifferentiated germline cell with the potential to become an oocyte.

   Two of the sixteen germline cells in each egg chamber develop as pro-oocytes, and the first asymmetry arises when one of these cells is selected to become the oocyte.

   1997, Acaimo González-Reyes et al., “Oocyte determination and the origin of polarity in Drosophila: the role of the spindle genes”, in Development, volume 124, pages 4927–4937

   1 more example

   In D. melanogaster, the nuclei of pro-oocytes and young oocytes are unsuitable for detailed cytological study at the light microscope level because of their small size.

   1970 February 28, Robert C. King, “The Meiotic Behavior of the Drosophila Ooctye”, in International Review of Cytology, volume 28, page 129