{"id":757,"date":"2017-11-11T18:13:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T18:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/chapter\/prokaryotic-cell-division\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T18:29:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T18:29:42","slug":"prokaryotic-cell-division","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/chapter\/prokaryotic-cell-division\/","title":{"raw":"Prokaryotic Cell Division","rendered":"Prokaryotic Cell Division"},"content":{"raw":"The cell division process used by prokaryotes (such as E. coli bacteria) and some unicellular eukaryotes is called <strong>binary fission<\/strong>. For unicellular organisms, cell division is the only method to produce new individuals. The outcome of this type of cell reproduction is a pair of <strong>daughter cells<\/strong> that are genetically identical to the original\u00a0<strong>parent cell<\/strong>. In unicellular organisms, daughter cells are whole individual organisms. This is a less complicated and much quicker process than cell division in eukaryotes. Because of the speed of bacterial cell division, populations of bacteria can grow very rapidly.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_136\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]<img class=\"wp-image-136 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2017\/11\/07.bacteriadividing-300x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"Bacteria dividing\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\"> <strong>Figure 1:<\/strong> An E. coli bacteria dividing into two identical daughter cells[\/caption]\n\nTo achieve the outcome of identical daughter cells, there are some essential steps. The genomic DNA must be replicated (using DNA replication) to produce two identical copies of the entire genome. Then, one copy must be moved into each of the daughter cells. The cytoplasmic contents must also be divided to give both new cells the machinery to sustain life. Since bacterial cells have a genome that consists of a single, circular DNA chromosome, the process of cell division is very simple.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_137\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"147\"]<img class=\"wp-image-137 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2017\/11\/07.Binary_fission-147x300-1.png\" alt=\"Binary fission\" width=\"147\" height=\"300\"> <strong>Figure 2:<\/strong> Prokaryotic cell division occurs via a process called binary fission.[\/caption]\n<h1>References<\/h1>\nUnless otherwise noted, images on this page are licensed under CC-BY 4.0 by OpenStax.\n\nOpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. May 27, 2016 http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/s8Hh0oOc@9.10:Vbi92lHB@9\/The-Cell-Cycle\n\nOpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. May 27, 2016 http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/s8Hh0oOc@9.10:LlKfCy5H@4\/Prokaryotic-Cell-Division","rendered":"<p>The cell division process used by prokaryotes (such as E. coli bacteria) and some unicellular eukaryotes is called <strong>binary fission<\/strong>. For unicellular organisms, cell division is the only method to produce new individuals. The outcome of this type of cell reproduction is a pair of <strong>daughter cells<\/strong> that are genetically identical to the original\u00a0<strong>parent cell<\/strong>. In unicellular organisms, daughter cells are whole individual organisms. This is a less complicated and much quicker process than cell division in eukaryotes. Because of the speed of bacterial cell division, populations of bacteria can grow very rapidly.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_136\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-136\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-136 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2017\/11\/07.bacteriadividing-300x300-1.jpg\" alt=\"Bacteria dividing\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-136\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1:<\/strong> An E. coli bacteria dividing into two identical daughter cells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To achieve the outcome of identical daughter cells, there are some essential steps. The genomic DNA must be replicated (using DNA replication) to produce two identical copies of the entire genome. Then, one copy must be moved into each of the daughter cells. The cytoplasmic contents must also be divided to give both new cells the machinery to sustain life. Since bacterial cells have a genome that consists of a single, circular DNA chromosome, the process of cell division is very simple.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_137\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-137\" style=\"width: 147px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-137 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2017\/11\/07.Binary_fission-147x300-1.png\" alt=\"Binary fission\" width=\"147\" height=\"300\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-137\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2:<\/strong> Prokaryotic cell division occurs via a process called binary fission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1>References<\/h1>\n<p>Unless otherwise noted, images on this page are licensed under CC-BY 4.0 by OpenStax.<\/p>\n<p>OpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. May 27, 2016 http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/s8Hh0oOc@9.10:Vbi92lHB@9\/The-Cell-Cycle<\/p>\n<p>OpenStax, Biology. OpenStax CNX. May 27, 2016 http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/s8Hh0oOc@9.10:LlKfCy5H@4\/Prokaryotic-Cell-Division<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["lisa-bartee-09rjouu9wq","shriner-waiter-xmtcidqjfm","catherine-creech-2ehqxneuz4"],"pb_section_license":"cc-by"},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[91,89,90],"license":[53],"class_list":["post-757","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-catherine-creech-2ehqxneuz4","contributor-lisa-bartee-09rjouu9wq","contributor-shriner-waiter-xmtcidqjfm","license-cc-by"],"part":753,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":758,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/757\/revisions\/758"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/753"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/757\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.hcfl.edu\/bio1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}