Binary Fission Flashcards
What is binary fission?
Binary fission is the process by which prokaryotic organisms, like bacteria, divide and reproduce
What is bacteria?
Bacteria is a single celled organism
Binary fission is not the same as mitosis or meiosis, why?
Binary fission involves prokaryotic cells whereas meiosis/mitosis involves eukaryotic cells
Why is binary fission also referred to as asexual reproduction?
Binary fission is not only a method of cell division, it is also a type of reproduction
What two things happen before binary fission occurs in a bacterial cell?
Before a bacterial cell can divide the cell needs to grow in size and the genetic material needs to replicate - both the plasmids + large circular DNA
How does binary fission work?
- The bacterial cell grows in size and replicates the genetic material
- The two large circular DNA move to either side of the bacterial cell and the plasmids are randomly arranged
- A new cell wall begins to grow
- When completely grown it causes the two halves to pull apart
- Resulting in the formation of two new bacterial cells
What is bacteria’s division time dependent on?
Bacteria’s division time is dependent on its species and conditions.
Conditions like; warmth, moisture, amount of nutrients
What would occur if a bacteria did not have warmth, moisture or plenty nutrients?
Without each of these bacterial cells may divide more slowly or not divide at all
- A bacterial cell has a mean division time of 30 minutes. How many cells would it produce after 3 hours?
3 hours x 60 = 180 mins
1 division = 30 mins
180 mins ÷ 30mins = 6 divisions
1 bacterial cell x 2^6 = 64 bacterial cells
- A petri dish contains 1000 bacterial cells.
Each cell divides once every 20 minutes.
How many cell will there be after 4 hours?
4 hours x 60 mins = 240 mins
240 mins ÷ 20 mins = 12 divisions
1000 bacterial cells x 2^12 = 4,096,000 bacterial cells
