Multiple Fission: Definition, Meaning,Types, Exampale

What Is Multiple Fission?

During multiple fission, a single parent of certain unicellular organisms—mostly protozoans—splits to form many daughter cells. This is contrasted with binary fission, whereby one parent cell divides to form two daughter cells. In this process, the parent cell divides into several daughter cells almost simultaneously. Such reproduction offers an effective way of increasing the population rapidly under favourable living conditions and where resources are plenty.

Process Of Multiple Fission

• Multiple fission generally occurs by individual induction of environmental factors like temperature, change in pH, and nutrient availability.

• It may be divided into successive stages of processes.

• In these, the parent cell may undergo encystment by forming a protective cyst or shell around it to withstand unfavourable conditions.

• In the process of nuclear division, the nucleus of the parent cell, inside the cyst, undergoes repeated division to form a lot of nuclei.

• In the process of cytokinesis, the parent cell's cytoplasm divides into many daughter cells, each having one nucleus.

• During excystment, when the environmental conditions turn favourable, the cyst wall bursts open, and the daughter cells emerge as free-living organisms, ready to grow and divide further.

Examples Of Organisms Exhibiting Multiple Fission

• Multiple fission occurs in several protozoans, for instance, Plasmodium, the malaria parasite, and Toxoplasma, during certain stages of its life cycle.

• In the case of Plasmodium, for example, multiple fission occurs within the liver as well as the red blood cells of its human host.

• This results in extremely fast multiplication of the parasite and the subsequent severe outbreak of malaria.

Multiple Fission: Its Importance

• Multiple fission is, in turn, a very efficient method of asexual reproduction that allows the rapid generation of a large number of genetically identical offspring.

• This is a very effective approach in high-resource, low-competition areas.

• Further, the ability to form protective cysts can enable an organism to survive in adverse conditions and disperse to new habitats.

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