binary fission

• how to prokaryotic cells reproduce?

  simple cell division called binary fission
• what are the steps of binary fission?

  1. the circular DNA and plasmids replicate
  2. the cell gets bigger and the circular DNA strands move to the opposite 'poles' of the cell
  3. the cytoplasm begins to divide and the new cell walls begin to form
  4. the cytoplasm divides and two daughter cells are produced
  5. Each daughter cell has one copy of the circular DNA, but can have a variable number of copies of the plasmids.
• why does binary fission sometimes not work/stop?

  if condition become unfavourable the cells will stop dividing and eventually begin to die.
• what type of cells does binary fission work for?

  prokaryotic (bacteria)
• what conditions does a bacteria cell need to be able to do binary fission?

  warm environment and lots of nutrients
• how can you find out the number of bacteria in a population?

  using mean division time
• what is the 'mean division time'?

  average amount of time taken for one bacterial cell to divide into two
• how do you calculate the number of bacteria in a population?

  1. make sure both times are in the same unit
  2. divide the total time that the bacteria are producing cells by the mean division time. This gives you the number of divisions
  3. multiply 2 by itself by the number of divisions to find the number of cells