biology

• asexual reproduction is when one parent produces offspring with the same genes as itself
• sexual reproduction involves two parents, producing offspring that have a mix of their genes
• gametes fuse to form zygotes which develop into new organisms
• in sexual reproduction, gametes are produced by meiosis
• meiosis reduces chromosome number from diploid (2n) to haploid (n)
• mitosis: a type of cell division that results in two daughter cells each having the same number and kind of chromosomes as the parent nucleus, typical of ordinary tissue growth
• meiosis: a type of cell division that occurs only in reproductive organs; it halves the number of chromosomes so that each sex cell has half the normal number of chromosomes.
• fertilisation: the fusion of egg and sperm cells during sexual reproduction
• zygote: an embryo resulting from the union of male and female gametes
• fertilisation: fusion of egg and sperm
• differentiation: the specialisation of cells into specific types of cells
• advantages of sexual reproduction is that it produces genetically different offspring, so there is a greater chance of survival
• disadvantage of sexual reproduction is that it takes longer to reproduce than asexual reproduction
• advantage of asexual reproduction is that it is quick and easy and can be done in a lab
• disadvantage of asexual reproduction is that all offspring are identical clones of parent cell