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Bacterial Binary Fission
Bacterial Binary Fission
Introduction
You may be familiar with mitosis, which is the process that eukaryotes (such
as you, me, your dog, and your favorite houseplant) use to divide their
nuclear DNA during cell division. However, mitosis is a complex process, a
chromosomal "dance" with some fancy choreography.
So, you might be wondering: How do simpler organisms, like bacteria,
undergo cell division? The answer: binary fission!
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Stages of binary fission.
1. We see the intact bacterial chromosome (which is circular). It has two
regions called the origin of replication and the terminus of replication,
which are located diametrically opposite to one another on the
chromosome.
2. The chromosome opens at the origin of replication, and the two DNA
strands are copies, with replication proceeding in opposite directions on
the two strands.
3. Copying continues, and the cell elongates. The new origins of replication
move apart, towards opposite ends of the cell.
4. A septum (wall) forms down the middle of the cell, partitioning it into two
new cells, each with one of the two (now-complete) bacterial chromosome
copies.
5. The cell pinches in two. We now have two new bacteria!
Bacterial binary fission is similar in some ways to the mitosis that happens
in eukaryotes and other humans. In both cases, chromosomes are copied
and separated, and the cell divides its cytoplasm to form two new cells.
However, the mechanics and sequence of the two processes are fairly
different. For one thing, no mitotic spindle forms in bacteria. Perhaps more
importantly, DNA replication actually happens at the same time as DNA
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separation during binary fission (unlike in mitosis, where DNA is copied
during S phase, long before its separation in M phase).
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