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Binary fission
 
 
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Binary fission is the form of asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. Only one parent is involved in asexual reproduction....
 and cell division
Cell division

Cell division is a process by which a cell , called the parent cell, divides into two or more cells, called daughter cells. Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle....
 used by prokaryotic and some eukaryotic organisms (such as bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
, amoeba
Amoeba

Amoeba is a term used either to describe protists that move by crawling via pseudopods, or to refer to a genus that includes species that move by this mechanism....
, or archaea
Archaea

The Archaea are a group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon . Archaea, like bacteria, are prokaryotic....
). This process results in the reproduction of a living prokaryotic cell
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
 by division into two parts which each have the potential to grow to the size of the original cell.

Mitosis
Mitosis

Mitosis is the process in which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus, into two identical sets in two daughter nuclei....
 and cytokinesis
Cytokinesis

Cytokinesis is the process where the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell is divided to form two daughter cells. It usually initiates during the late stages of mitosis, and sometimes meiosis, splitting a binucleate cell in two, to ensure that chromosome number is maintained from one generation to the next....
 are not the same as binary fission.






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Encyclopedia


Binary Fission
Binary fission is the form of asexual reproduction
Asexual reproduction

Asexual reproduction is reproduction which does not involve meiosis, ploidy reduction, or fertilization. Only one parent is involved in asexual reproduction....
 and cell division
Cell division

Cell division is a process by which a cell , called the parent cell, divides into two or more cells, called daughter cells. Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle....
 used by prokaryotic and some eukaryotic organisms (such as bacteria
Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
, amoeba
Amoeba

Amoeba is a term used either to describe protists that move by crawling via pseudopods, or to refer to a genus that includes species that move by this mechanism....
, or archaea
Archaea

The Archaea are a group of single-celled microorganisms. A single individual or species from this domain is called an archaeon . Archaea, like bacteria, are prokaryotic....
). This process results in the reproduction of a living prokaryotic cell
Cell (biology)

The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known Life organisms. It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living, and is often called the building bricks of life....
 by division into two parts which each have the potential to grow to the size of the original cell.

Mitosis
Mitosis

Mitosis is the process in which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus, into two identical sets in two daughter nuclei....
 and cytokinesis
Cytokinesis

Cytokinesis is the process where the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell is divided to form two daughter cells. It usually initiates during the late stages of mitosis, and sometimes meiosis, splitting a binucleate cell in two, to ensure that chromosome number is maintained from one generation to the next....
 are not the same as binary fission. The ability of some multicellular animals, such as echinoderm
Echinoderm

Echinoderms are a Phylum of Marine animals . Echinoderms are found at every ocean depth, from the intertidal zone to the abyssal zone.Aside from the problematic Arkarua, the first definitive members of the phylum appeared near the start of the Cambrian period....
s and flatworm
Flatworm

The flatworms, known in scientific literature as Platyhelminthes are a Phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, Segmentation , soft-bodied invertebrate animals....
s, to regenerate two whole organisms after having been cut in half, is also not the same as binary fission. Neither is vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction

Vegetative reproduction is a type of asexual reproduction for plants, and is also called vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication, or vegetative cloning....
 of plants.

Process

Binary fission begins with DNA replication
DNA replication

DNA replication, the basis for heredity, is a fundamental process occurring in all living organisms to copy their DNA. This process is "semiconservative replication" in that each strand of the original double-stranded DNA molecule serves as template for the reproduction of the complementary strand....
. DNA replication starts from an origin of replication, which opens up into a replication bubble (note: prokaryotic DNA replication usually has only 1 origin of replication, whereas eukaryotes have multiple origins of replication). The replication bubble separates the DNA double strand, each strand acts as template for synthesis of a daughter strand by semiconservative replication
Semiconservative replication

Semiconservative replication describes the method by which DNA is replicated in all known cells.This method of replication was one of three proposed models...
, until the entire prokaryotic DNA is duplicated.

After this replicational process, cell growth occurs.

Each circular DNA strand
DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetics instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses....
 then attaches to the cell membrane
Cell membrane

The cell membrane is the interface between the cellular machinery inside the cell and the fluid outside.It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer found in all cell ....
. The cell elongates, causing the two chromosome
Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in Cell . A chromosome is a single piece of DNA that contains many genes, regulatory sequence and other genetic sequence....
s to separate.

Cell division in bacteria is controlled by the septal ring, a collection of about a dozen proteins that collect around the site of division. There, they direct assembly of the division septum. The cell wall and plasma membrane starts growing transversely from near the middle of the dividing cell. This separates the parent cell into two nearly equal daughter cells, each having a nuclear body

The cell membrane then invaginates
Invagination

Invagination means to fold inward or to sheath. In biology, this can refer to a number of processes.*Invagination is the morphogenetic processes by which an embryo takes form, and is the initial step of gastrulation, the massive reorganization of the embryo from a simple spherical ball of Cell , the blastula, into a multi-layered organism,...
 (grows inwards) and splits the cell into two daughter cells, separated by a newly grown cell plate.

Use by eukaryotic organelles

Eukaryotic organelle
Organelle

In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and is usually separately enclosed within its own lipid membrane....
s such as mitochondria, chloroplast
Chloroplast

Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant cells and other eukaryote organisms that conduct photosynthesis. Chloroplasts capture light energy to conserve Thermodynamic free energy in the form of Adenosine triphosphate and reduce NADP to NADPH through a complex set of processes called photosynthesis....
s, and peroxisomes also reproduce within the eukaryotic cell by binary fission. How they are allotted to one descendant cell or the other during mitosis and cytokinesis is not yet clear.