HSC Biology Practice Exam

The process of asexual reproduction where one cell divides into two genetically identical cells is known as binary fission. This method is commonly observed in prokaryotic organisms, such as bacteria, where the single parent cell undergoes a straightforward division. During binary fission, the cell's genetic material is duplicated, and then the cell elongates and splits into two new cells, each containing an identical copy of the original genetic material.

While mitosis, which is the process of cell division in eukaryotic cells, also results in two genetically identical daughter cells, it is part of a more complex cycle involving multiple phases and typically occurs in the context of growth and tissue repair rather than a typical asexual reproduction process. Thus, although both processes yield identical daughter cells, the term most accurately associated with the specific form of asexual reproduction involving the direct division of one cell into two is binary fission.