Search results
Typically, bacterial and archaeal cells grow, duplicate all major cellular constituents, like DNA, ribosomes, etc., distribute this content and then divide into two nearly identical daughter cells. This process is called binary fission and is shown mid-process in the figure below. While some bacterial species are known to use several ...
- Eukaryotic
Structural differences between bacterial and eukaryotic...
- Mitosis
The G 1 checkpoint, also called the restriction point, is...
- 10.1: Bacterial Cell Division
The bacterial chromosome is attached to the plasma membrane...
- Eukaryotic
- Overview
- Introduction
- What is binary fission?
- Steps of binary fission
- Comparing binary fission and mitosis
Bacterial binary fission is the process that bacteria use to carry out cell division. Learn the steps of binary fission, including copying the bacterial chromosome and forming a new cell wall.
Introduction
You may be familiar with mitosis, which is the process that eukaryotes (such as you, me, your dog, and your favorite houseplant) use to divide their nuclear DNA during cell division. However, mitosis is a complex process, a chromosomal "dance" with some fancy choreography.
So, you might be wondering: How do simpler organisms, like bacteria, undergo cell division? The answer: binary fission!
What is binary fission?
Bacterial binary fission is the process that bacteria use to carry out cell division. Binary fission is similar in concept to the mitosis that happens in multicellular organisms (such as plants and animals), but its purpose is different.
You may be familiar with mitosis, which is the process that eukaryotes (such as you, me, your dog, and your favorite houseplant) use to divide their nuclear DNA during cell division. However, mitosis is a complex process, a chromosomal "dance" with some fancy choreography.
So, you might be wondering: How do simpler organisms, like bacteria, undergo cell division? The answer: binary fission!
Bacterial binary fission is the process that bacteria use to carry out cell division. Binary fission is similar in concept to the mitosis that happens in multicellular organisms (such as plants and animals), but its purpose is different.
When cells divide by mitosis in the body of a multicellular organism, they cause the organism to grow larger or replace old, worn-out cells with new ones. In the case of a bacterium, however, cell division isn’t just a means of making more cells for the body. Instead, it’s actually how bacteria reproduce, or add more bacteria to the population.
Like a human cell, a dividing bacterium needs to copy its DNA. Unlike human cells, which have multiple linear (rod-like) chromosomes enclosed in a membrane-bound nucleus, bacterial cells usually have a single, circular chromosome and always lack a nucleus. However, the bacterial chromosome is found in a specialized region of the cell called the nucleoid.
Copying of DNA by replication enzymes begins at a spot on the chromosome called the origin of replication. The origin is the first part of the DNA to be copied. As replication continues, the two origins move towards opposite ends of the cell, pulling the rest of the chromosome along with them. The cell also gets longer, adding to the separation of the newly forming chromosomes.
Stages of binary fission.
Replication continues until the entire chromosome is copied and the replication enzymes meet at the far side. Once the new chromosomes have moved to opposite cell ends and cleared the center of the cell, division of the cytoplasm can take place.
In this process, the membrane pinches inward and a septum, or new dividing wall, forms down the middle of the cell. (Bacteria have a cell wall, so they must regenerate this wall when they undergo cell division.)
Finally, the septum itself splits down the middle, and the two cells are released to continue their lives as individual bacteria.
Bacterial binary fission is similar in some ways to the mitosis that happens in humans and other eukaryotes. In both cases, chromosomes are copied and separated, and the cell divides its cytoplasm to form two new cells.
However, the mechanics and sequence of the two processes are fairly different. For one thing, no mitotic spindle forms in bacteria. Perhaps more importantly, DNA replication actually happens at the same time as DNA separation during binary fission (unlike in mitosis, where DNA is copied during S phase, long before its separation in M phase).
The bacterial chromosome is attached to the plasma membrane at about the midpoint of the cell. The starting point of replication, the origin, is close to the binding site of the chromosome to the plasma membrane (Figure 10.1.1 10.1. 1). Replication of the DNA is bidirectional, moving away from the origin on both strands of the loop simultaneously.
Bacterial cell division is initiated by the midcell assembly of polymers of the tubulin-like GTPase FtsZ. The FtsZ ring (Z-ring) is a discontinuous structure made of dynamic patches of FtsZ that undergo treadmilling motion. Roughly a dozen additional essential proteins are recruited to the division site by the dynamic Z-ring scaffold and ...
Jan 15, 2021 · Binary fission is the process through which asexual reproduction happens in bacteria. During binary fission, a single organism becomes two independent organisms. Binary fission also describes the duplication of organelles in eukaryotes. Mitochondria and other organelles must reproduce via binary fission before mitosis so each cell has ample ...
- Gabe Buckley
The plot defines the duration of events, or phases of the cell cycle as follows: The first phase (interval #1 on the graph) must be the time between the end of DNA synthesis and the start of mitosis, defined as Gap 2 (G2). Cell doubling times are easily measured. Assume that the cells in this experiment doubled every 20 hours.
People also ask
How does bacterial cell division work?
What is bacterial cell division?
What is cell division?
What is the first recognizable event in bacterial cell division?
How do bacterial and archaeal cells divide?
Bacterial cell division is orchestrated by the assembly of FtsZ into the Z ring, which functions as a scaffold for the assembly of the division machinery. Here, David Adams and Jeff Errington ...
