binary fission

Examples of binary fission in the following topics:

• Binary Fission

  • Binary fission is the method by which prokaryotes produce new individuals that are genetically identical to the parent organism.
  • Prokaryotes, such as bacteria, propagate by binary fission.
  • Due to the relative simplicity of the prokaryotes, the cell division process, or binary fission, is a less complicated and much more rapid process than cell division in eukaryotes.

• Prokaryotic Reproduction

  • Prokaryotes reproduce asexually by binary fission; they can also exchange genetic material by transformation, transduction, and conjugation.
  • Reproduction in prokaryotes is asexual and usually takes place by binary fission.
  • Binary fission does not provide an opportunity for genetic recombination or genetic diversity, but prokaryotes can share genes by three other mechanisms .
  • Besides binary fission, there are three other mechanisms by which prokaryotes can exchange DNA.

• Types of Sexual and Asexual Reproduction

  • Animals may reproduce asexually through fission, budding, fragmentation, or parthenogenesis.
  • Fission, also called binary fission, occurs in prokaryotic microorganisms and in some invertebrate, multi-celled organisms.
  • Some unicellular eukaryotic organisms undergo binary fission by mitosis.
  • Some sea anemones and some coral polyps also reproduce through fission .
  • Coral polyps reproduce asexually by fission, where an organism splits into two separate organisms.

• Characteristics of Eukaryotic DNA

  • Prokaryotes on the other hand undergo binary fission in a process where the DNA is replicated, then separates to two poles of the cell, and, finally, the cell fully divides.

• Molecular and Cellular Cloning

  • Unicellular organisms, such as bacteria and yeast, naturally produce clones of themselves when they replicate asexually by binary fission; this is known as cellular cloning.

• The Evolution of Mitochondria

  • Mitochondria divide independently by a process that resembles binary fission in prokaryotes.

• The Evolution of Plastids

  • In addition, like mitochondria, plastids derive from the binary fission of other plastids.

• Chromalveolata: Alveolates

  • The micronucleus is essential for sexual reproduction, whereas the macronucleus directs asexual binary fission and all other biological functions.

• Water’s High Heat Capacity

  • Commercial nuclear reactors release large amounts of thermal energy (heat) during radioactive decay of fission products.

• Classes of Echinoderms

  • Some brittle stars, such as the six-armed members of the family Ophiactidae, are fissiparous (divide though fission), with the disk splitting in half.