Asexual reproduction is a type of reproduction by which offspring arise from a single organism, and inherit the genes of that parent only; it does not involve the fusion of gametes, and almost never changes the number of chromosomes. Asexual reproduction is the primary form of reproduction for single-celled organisms such as archaea and bacteria. Many plants and fungi sometimes reproduce asexually. Some Asexual cells die when they are very young.
A clade, also known as monophyletic group, is a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants, and represents a single "branch" on the "tree of life".
In cladistics, a monophyletic group, or clade, is a group of organisms that consists of all the descendants of a common ancestor. Monophyletic groups are typically characterised by shared derived characteristics (synapomorphies), which distinguish organisms in the clade from other organisms. The arrangement of the members of a monophyletic group is called a monophyly.
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of living forms, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees. Phylogenies have two components: branching order and branch length. Phylogenetic trees of species and higher taxa are used to study the evolution of traits and the distribution of organisms (biogeography). Systematics, in other words, is used to understand the evolutionary history of life on Earth.
Molecular phylogenetics is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominately in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to determine the processes by which diversity among species has been achieved. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree. Molecular phylogenetics is one aspect of molecular systematics, a broader term that also includes the use of molecular data in taxonomy and biogeography.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a species of yeast. It has been instrumental to winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been originally isolated from the skin of grapes. It is one of the most intensively studied eukaryotic model organisms in molecular and cell biology, much like Escherichia coli as the model bacterium. It is the microorganism behind the most common type of fermentation. S. cerevisiae cells are round to ovoid, 5–10 μm in diameter. It reproduces by a division process known as budding.
An evolutionary lineage is a temporal series of organisms, populations, cells, or genes connected by a continuous line of descent from ancestor to descendent. Lineages are subsets of the evolutionary tree of life. Lineages are often determined by the techniques of molecular systematics.
Fragmentation in multicellular organisms is a form of asexual reproduction in which an organism is split into fragments. Each of these fragments develop into matured, fully grown individuals that are identical to their parents.
HomoloGene, a tool of the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), is a system for automated detection of homologs among the annotated genes of several completely sequenced eukaryotic genomes.
Saccharomycetes belongs to the kingdom of Fungi and the division Ascomycota. It is the only class in the subdivision Saccharomycotina, the budding yeasts. Saccharomycetes contains a single order: Saccharomycetales.
Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from the parent or parents. Asexual reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes, genetically identical to the parent plants and each other, except when mutations occur. In seed plants, the offspring can be packaged in a protective seed, which is used as an agent of dispersal.
The tree of life or universal tree of life is a metaphor, model and research tool used to explore the evolution of life and describe the relationships between organisms, both living and extinct, as described in a famous passage in Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859).
The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile largely speaks the truth.
Pichia is a genus of yeasts in the family Saccharomycetaceae with spherical, elliptical, or oblong acuminate cells. Pichia is a teleomorph, and forms hat-shaped, hemispherical, or round ascospores during sexual reproduction. The anamorphs of some Pichia species are Candida species. The asexual reproduction is by multilateral budding.
A zooid or zoöid is a single animal that is part of a colonial animal. This lifestyle has been adopted by animals from separate unrelated taxa. Zooids are multicellular; their structure is similar to that of other solitary animals. The zooids can either be directly connected by tissue or share a common exoskeleton. The colonial organism as a whole is called a zoon, plural zoa.
The Parable of the Budding Fig Tree is a parable told by Jesus in the New Testament, found in Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, and Luke 21:29-33. This parable, about the Kingdom of God, involves a fig tree, as does the equally brief parable of the barren fig tree.
In biology, an organism is any individual entity that exhibits the properties of life. It is a synonym for "life form".
Sessility is the biological property of an organism describing its lack of a means of self-locomotion. Absent natural motility sessile organisms are normally immobile. This is distinct from the botanical meaning of sessility, which refers to an organism or biological structure attached directly by its base without a stalk.
Eobacterium is an extinct genus of bacteria from the Fig Tree Formation in Africa. It is about 3 billion years old, one of the oldest known living organisms. The discovery of Eobacterium and other Fig Tree organisms in the 1960s helped prove that life existed over three billion years ago.
Cormus (cormi) – from ancient Greek, κορμός - kormόs = trunk of a tree with the boughs cut – is an organism made up of a number of individuals, such as, for example, would be formed by a process of budding from a parent stalk where the buds remain attached.
