Question

The ability of a cell to divide into several cells during reproduction in plasmodium is called as
A) Budding
B) Reduction division
C) Binary fission
D) Multiple fission

Answer 1

Hint: Reproduction means generate a new organism. It can be occur by many ways like asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. In asexual reproduction only one organism play an important role and in sexual reproduction male and female intercross and produce new progeny. Multiple fission is the one the reproductive cycle.

Complete Answer:
During reproduction male and female produce gamete cells and each gamete contains a haploid set of chromosomes. During reproduction in many organisms zygote is formed but environment conditions are not favorable for infants so the organism has the ability to protect its infant. Some organisms have gemule structure in sponges, some have cyst formation in plasmodium, some produce jelly coats in amphibian etc.

A) In plasmodium during the reproduction, male and female gametes conjugate and form zygote diploid cells.
(i) When the environment condition is not favorable for infants, plasmodium forms a cyst structure around its zygote and protects it.
In this cyst structure, the plasmodium nucleus divides multiple times and increases the number of nuclei.
In cyst plasmodium nucleus repeatedly divides to create a huge number of nuclei. Every nucleus absorbs a little amount of cytoplasm and forms a membrane around each structure. After a few times a huge number of cells are produced in the cyst.
(ii) During the favorable condition this cyst structure bursts and releases a large number of cells. This division is a mitotic division so all the cells are similar in number of chromosomes and are called daughter cells.

B) Budding is an asexual type of reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud.
C) Binary fission is also a type of asexual reproduction in which single cell divide into two identical daughter cells.

Hence the correct answer is option D i.e. multiple fission.

Note: Multiple fission is an adaptive trait in plasmodium to produce a huge number of progeny and secret a hard structure to protect its offspring during unfavorable conditions and host stomach acidic medium.