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Cambridge O Level Biology 5090
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
Reproduction is one of the seven characteristics of all living organisms. It is the process by which living things produce new individuals of the same kind. Without reproduction, a species would eventually die out.
There are two types of reproduction:
Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that:
The key idea here is "genetically identical". This means the offspring have exactly the same genetic information (DNA) as the parent. They are like perfect copies. These genetically identical individuals are called clones.
💡 Think of it this way: Imagine photocopying a document. Every copy is exactly the same as the original. Asexual reproduction works the same way — the offspring are exact copies of the parent.
In asexual reproduction, the parent organism divides or produces new individuals through cell division (specifically a type called mitosis — where one cell splits to produce two cells with identical DNA). Because only one parent is involved and no sex cells are used, all the genetic information passed on comes entirely from that one parent. This is why the offspring are genetically identical.
You need to be able to identify examples of asexual reproduction. Here are the key ones:
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