The fusion of two parents' genetic material is understood as sexual reproduction while asexual reproduction yields genetically similar offspring to the same parent.
<u>Asexual Reproduction:</u>
This way all the prokaryotes and other eukaryotes produce offspring. There are a variety of different asexual reproductive practices. These comprises of binary, fragmentation, and budding fission.
- The binary fission appears when a parent cell wants to split into 2 separate daughter cells of the same diameter. For an instance, protozoa reproduces in the same way.
- Fragmentation happens when a parent entity divides into small parts or fragments, and each segment grows into a recent organism. Starfish, that way replicate.
- Budding happens when a parent cell develops a bud close to a bubble. When growing and developing, the bud remains connected to the parent cell. This get detached from the parent cell when the bud is completely grown, and becomes a new entity. It is common in hydra and yeast.
<u>Sexual Reproduction:</u>
- A reproductive process which comprises haploid female gamete fusion, i.e. egg cell and haploid male gamete i.e. sperm cell.
- That implies they only include half the number of chromosomes contained in other species cells. A form of cell division named meiosis creates gametes.
- These gametes are fused at fertilization which results in the production of a diploid zygote having the chromosome double of gametes.
We all know that all living organisms share several key characteristics or functions: order, sensitivity or response to the environment, reproduction, growth and development, regulation, homeostasis, and energy processing. When viewed together, these characteristics serve to define life.
