Fission (biology)

The object experiencing fission is usually a cell, but the term may also refer to how organisms, bodies, populations, or species split into discrete parts.

MinE stops the MinCD activity midcell, allowing FtsZ to take over for binary fission.

Little is known about how bacteria that naturally don't grow a cell wall divide, but it is thought to resemble the L-form's budding-like division process of extrusion and separation.

They use a primitive version of the eukaryotic ESCRT-III system (also known as Cdv) to manipulate the membrane into separating, specifically by coming into the middle of the two soon-to-be daughter cells.

[15] All chloroplasts and some mitochondria (not in animals), both organelles derived from endosymbiosis of bacteria, also use FtsZ in a bacteria-like fashion.

[20] Cells of the fish parasite Trypanosoma borreli have also been observed participating in both binary and multiple fission.

[21] In the apicomplexans, a phylum of parasitic protists, multiple fission, or schizogony, is manifested either as merogony, sporogony, or gametogony.

The exact number of daughter cells depends on the species of algae and is an effect of temperature and light.

Some species and groups of bacteria may undergo multiple fission as well, sometimes beginning or ending with the production of spores.

[25] The species Metabacterium polyspora, a symbiont of guinea pigs, has been found to produce multiple endospores in each division.

A population may undergo fission process for a variety of reasons, including migration or geographic isolation.

Binary fission of ciliate Colpidium , (a single-cell eukaryote )
Schematic diagram of cellular growth (elongation) and binary fission of bacilli. Blue and red lines indicate old and newly generated bacterial cell wall, respectively. (1) growth at the centre of the bacterial body. e.g. Bacillus subtilis , E. coli , and others. (2) apical growth. e.g. Corynebacterium diphtheriae . This is bacterial proliferation .
Binary fission in a prokaryote