Most bacteria reproduce by binary fission, a simple form of cellular division. As the adult cell's growth slows, it prepares for binary fission by replicating the DNA. As the cell grows longer, the loops of DNA become separated and when the cell reaches double it's initial size, the membrane pinches in. The pinching of the membrane, as you may recall, is called cytokinesis.
Binary fission can be divided into four basic steps: 1) The cell grows. 2) DNA replicates. 3) The DNA and its copy separate as the cell continues to grow. 4) The cell splits into two and each new cell has a copy of the DNA. |
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