asexual reproduction

Also known as GO:0019954, asexual cell division, agamogenesis

biological process in which new individuals are produced by either a single cell or a group of cells, in the absence of any sexual process

AI overview

Asexual reproduction is a biological process where new organisms develop from a single cell or group of cells without involving sex or the mixing of genetic material from two parents. This method of reproduction is important because many plants, fungi, and microorganisms rely on it to create offspring quickly and efficiently.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

In the Vinony graph

Vinony's link graph records 1,560 inbound references to asexual reproduction, and connects out to Apicomplexan life cycle, apomixis and fungi.

It is catalogued under the topic Asexual reproduction.

Vinony links it to 75 Wikipedia language editions.

Research

7,857 papers

Asexual reproduction through seeds: the complex case of diplosporous apomixis.ReviewJournal of experimental botany · 2023Cornaro L, Banfi C, Cucinotta M et al.DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad054
Asexual Reproduction in Sponges: A Review.ReviewMolecular reproduction and development · 2026Ereskovsky AV, Lavrov AIDOI: 10.1002/mrd.70083
Asexual reproduction for improved livestock breeding.Trends in biotechnology · 2024Fan Z, Gu T, Hackett PB et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2023.10.002
Grazing reduces plant sexual reproduction but increases asexual reproduction: A global meta-analysis.The Science of the total environment · 2023Wentao M, Shiming T, Le Q et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162850
[Research progress in asexual reproduction technology of Callicarpa].ReviewZhongguo Zhong yao za zhi = Zhongguo zhongyao zazhi = China journal of Chinese materia medica · 2025Zhang YT, Xu JF, Fang L et al.DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20241215.104
Sexual and asexual reproduction in the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri.ReviewGenesis (New York, N.Y. : 2000) · 2015Gasparini F, Manni L, Cima F et al.DOI: 10.1002/dvg.22802
Asexual reproduction: genetics and evolutionary aspects.ReviewCellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2007de Meeûs T, Prugnolle F, Agnew PDOI: 10.1007/s00018-007-6515-2
Sexual conflict as a constraint on asexual reproduction: an empirical review.ReviewBiological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Wilner D, Bonduriansky R, Burke NWDOI: 10.1111/brv.70064

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: biological process
Subclass of: reproduction
Image: Binary Fission.png

Show 7 more facts

Commons category: Asexual reproduction
Stack Exchange tag: biology.stackexchange.com/tags/asexual-reproduction
topic's main category: Category:Asexual reproduction
exact match: purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GO_0019954
opposite of: sexual reproduction
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
different from: asexuality

Sources (4)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

Asexual reproduction in liverworts: a caducous phylloid germinating Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that does not involve the fusion of gametes or change in the number of chromosomes. The offspring that arise by asexual reproduction from either unicellular or multicellular organisms inherit the full set of genes of their single parent and thus the newly created individual is genetically and physically similar to the parent or an exact clone of the parent. Asexual reproduction is the primary form of reproduction for single-celled organisms such as archaea and bacteria. Many eukaryotic organisms including plants, animals, and fungi can also reproduce asexually. In vertebrates, the most common form of asexual reproduction is parthenogenesis, which is typically used as an alternative to sexual reproduction in times when reproductive opportunities are limited. Some monitor lizards, including Komodo dragons, can reproduce asexually.

While all prokaryotes reproduce without the formation and fusion of gametes, mechanisms for lateral gene transfer such as conjugation, transformation and transduction can be likened to sexual reproduction in the sense of genetic recombination in meiosis.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “asexual reproduction” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.