Compare and contrast the ways in which yeast grows in the first case, and how mould grows in the second.
Having discussed the context in which reproductive processes work, let us now examine how different organisms actually reproduce. The modes by which various organisms reproduce depend on the body design of the organisms.
For unicellular organisms, cell division, or fission, leads to the creation of new individuals. Many different patterns of fission have been observed. Many bacteria and protozoa simply split into two equal halves during cell division. In organisms such as Amoeba, the splitting of the two cells during division can take place in any plane.
However, some unicellular organisms show somewhat more organisation of their bodies, such as is seen in Leishmania (which cause kala-azar), which have a whip-like structure at one end of the cell. In such organisms, binary fission occurs in a definite orientation in relation to these structures. Other single-celled organisms, such as the malarial parasite, Plasmodium, divide into many daughter cells simultaneously by multiple fission.
