asexual reproduction
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.
Research
7,856 papersvia PubMed
Article
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.