Importance of Cell Division

The cell is the functional unit of life. Only one of them can represent a living organism, as occurs for example with the bacteria, the protozoa and some fungus. On the other hand, from a single cell, thanks to cell division processes, it is possible to form a whole multicellular organism, as in the case of plants and animals. animals. There are several factors that highlight the importance of cell division as a biological process, the first of which is that guarantees the continuity of life for each of the existing species, as it is the main multiplication mechanism that all types of cells have. On the other hand, the different forms of cell division play a key role in the evolutionary processes, since it is in this phenomenon of biology that events such as mutations genetic, which give rise to the changes in species and its subsequent exact replication – if feasible – transmitting the changes to the new generations.

In short, without cell division, life beyond some unicellular forms would not be possible, since it also makes

tissue conformation feasible that are required for the development of multicellular organisms, in addition to being the indispensable resource that allows the sexual reproduction of the species, therefore, seen in this way, cell division intervenes biologically in all the basic aspects of each of the living beings.

Mitosis and meiosis

One of the best-known cell division processes is mitosis, which takes place in four phases different, allowing an original cell to divide into two identical cells, both in genetic load and in functions.

The division of the chromosomes present in the nucleus of the cells is carried out in such a way that it allows the exact transcription of its DNA, however, on some occasions failures can occur that end up causing mutations, creating as a consequence alterations that do not always make the survival of the abnormal cell viable, however, in In the event that it could survive despite the changes, and also considering the fact that these do not affect their ability to divide again by mitosis, said cells could come to represent a real risk for the individual in which the mutation has occurred, as has recently been discovered to occur with cells carcinogenic

On the other hand, mutations have also allowed the changes that have led species towards their evolution, so not all DNA alterations end up becoming life-threatening.

Thanks to mitosis, there is precisely the generation of tissues - and therefore organs - in multicellular organisms, while in unicellular becomes the mechanism for colony development, as for example in the case of molds or for free-living forms of organisms such as protozoa.

Although cell division by mitosis is what allows individuals to grow, the way Reproduction in multicellular organisms is mostly sexual and this is taken care of by the meiosis.

Meiosis is an even more complex form of cell division, its purpose is to achieve the generation of sex cells whose genetic load is half of that of the original and to achieve this it is organized into two processes: the meiosis I and the meiosis II, subdivided in turn into 4 phases each, which actually translates into two cell division processes themselves. Genetic errors during meiosis are the ones that usually generate sex-linked syndromes, through the appearance of abnormal eggs or sperm.

Both mitosis and meiosis are cell division processes unique to eukaryotic cells.

Another Form of Cell Division

On the other hand, prokaryotic cells, lacking a defined nucleus and possessing circular DNA, have had to figure out another form of cell division to ensure the continuity of their species. The process of cell division unique to prokaryotes is called Binary fission. This, like mitosis, generates as a result two identical cells from one, but through a much faster and more direct mechanism which facilitates the exponential growth of bacterial coloniesHence, the infections caused by these develop in such an accelerated way that they do.