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Introduction

Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle. In eukaryotes, there are two distinct types of cell division; a vegetative division and the reproductive cell division. Both of these cell division cycles are used in the process of sexual reproduction at some point in their life cycle. Both are believed to be present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor. Prokaryotes (bacteria) undergo a vegetative cell division known as binary fission, where their genetic material is segregated equally into two daughter cells. Apart from binary fission, there are alternative manners of division such as budding. All cell divisions, regardless of organism, are preceded by a single round of DNA replication. For simple unicellular microorganisms such as the amoeba, one cell division is equivalent to reproduction – an entire new organism is created. On a larger scale, mitotic cell division can create progeny from multicellular organisms, such as plants that grow from cuttings. The primary concern of cell division is the maintenance of the original cell's genome. Before division can occur, the genomic information that is stored in chromosomes must be replicated, and the duplicated genome must be separated cleanly between cells.

Different types of cell divisions

Eukaryotes cell division

In eukaryotes there are two distinct types of cell division which are as followed:

1.     A vegetative division:

This is whereby each daughter cell is genetically identical to the parent cell. This process is called Mitosis. Mitotic cell division enables sexually reproducing organisms to develop from the one-celled zygote, which itself was produced by meiotic cell division from gametes. After growth, cell division by mitosis allows for continual construction and repair of the organism. (Link this to the mitosis Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitosis )

2.     A reproductive cell division:

This is where the number of chromosomes in the daughter cells is reduced by half to produce haploid gametes (meiosis). Meiosis results in four haploid daughter cells by undergoing one round of DNA replication followed by two divisions. Homologous chromosomes are separated in the first division, and sister chromatids are separated in the second division.

History

A cell division under microscope was first discovered by German botanist Hugo von Mohl in 1835 as he worked over the green alga Cladophoraglomerata.

In 1943, cell division was filmed for the first time by Kurt Michel using a phase-contrast microscope.