Question

Sexual and Asexual Reproduction. Reproduction is common to all life. Over the course of this semester we have discussed tradeoffs between the benefits and costs of asexual and sexual reproduction in various organisms. We also discussed some of the challenges in defining sexual reproduction.

(C) Choose a second eukaryotic organism that we’ve talked about this semester, this time from kingdom Animalia or Protista. What kind of ASEXUAL reproduction is present in this organism? Describe the environmental conditions under which ASEXUAL reproduction occurs commonly or exclusively among individuals, and explain why these conditions favor asexual reproduction over sexual reproduction.

Answer 1

Answer - We choose Entameoba histolytica from the kingdom Protista. It reproduces by a simple method of asexual reproduction, called Binary fission. In this a parent ameoba simply divide into two identical daughter ameoba through mitosis. The genetic material is identical in the daughter cells to that of the parent cell, as expected in asexual reproduction.  

During unfavourable or harsh conditions like highly acidic conditions of the stomach, entamoeba undergoes encystation to tide over the unstable conditions. Inside the cyst, it reproduces asexually and and disperses the daughter cells when suitable conditions arrive. Here, asexual reproduction proves to be advantageous due to the high number of offsprings produced.