Question

How are binary fission and sexual reproduction for prokaryotes different?

Answer 1

Hint: By binary fission, prokaryotes replicate asexually; they may also share genetic material by mutation, transduction, and conjugation. The sexual reproduction in bacteria is termed ‘’primitive sexual reproduction’’.

Complete answer:
By binary fission, prokaryotes replicate asexually; they may also share genetic material by mutation, transduction, and conjugation. Reproduction is asexual in prokaryotes and normally takes place by binary fission. A prokaryote's DNA occurs as a single chromosome, spherical. Prokaryotes do not undergo mitosis; instead, due to the development of the cell, the chromosome is repeated and the two resulting copies are isolated from each other. At its equator, the prokaryote, now swollen, is pinched inward and divided by the two resultant cells, which are clones.

The capacity for genetic recombination or genetic diversity is not given by binary fission, but prokaryotes will exchange genes by three other mechanisms. The prokaryote takes in DNA present in its environment during transition, which is shed by other prokaryotes. If a non pathogenic bacteria takes DNA from a pathogen for a toxin gene and combines the new DNA into its own genome, it may become pathogenic as well. Bacteriophages, the viruses infecting bacteria, also often transfer small pieces of chromosomal DNA from one bacterium to another during transduction.

A genetically variable organism emerges from transduction. Bacteriophages do not affect Archaea, but instead, have their own viruses which translocate genetic material from one person to another. In conjugation, a pilus is used to transfer DNA from one prokaryote to another, taking the species into contact with each other. The DNA transferred may be both plasmid and chromosomal DNA in the form of a plasmid or as a hybrid.

Note: Reproduction can be very speedy: for certain animals, a few minutes. This short cycle of generation, combined with genetic recombination processes and high mutation rates, results in the rapid evolution of prokaryotes, enabling them to react very quickly to environmental changes (such as the advent of antibiotics).