gemmation

Biologist

2022

We explain what budding is and how this form of asexual reproduction occurs in plants, animals and examples of each one.

In budding, a portion of a living being creates another individual.

What is budding?

In biology, it is known as budding (from the Latin geminus, "Twin") to a form of asexual reproduction consisting of an unequal division of the body of the progenitor.

It requires the growth of a physical prominence that can then be separated and give rise to a individual new whole, or stay attached and start a colony. This will depend on the species of living being and the favorable conditions of the environment.

Budding as a reproductive process occurs both in plants as in some mushrooms (like the yeast), but also in some animals such as porifers, cnidarians, and bryozoans. Like all forms of asexual reproduction, they have little or no genetic variety, that is, they create individuals that are genetically identical to the parent.

Budding in plants

A stem fragment of certain plants only needs water to produce roots.

Many types of plants reproduce by budding: they create new individuals from shoots from the trunk or stem of the parent.

This capacity can be used to obtain new plants, because when removing a shoot from the stem and placing it in Water, it will take root and give rise to a whole new individual. In fact, many types of cacti, succulents, and seedless plants easily reproduce this way.

Budding in animals

Budding is common in animals, in the most primitive orders and genera, both unicellular and multicellular.

  • Unicellular. The process begins with the duplication of the cell nucleus and the construction of a bud or protuberance in the cytoplasm of the parent, where the new nucleus will be located until, depending on the profitability of the environment, it will end up being separated by mitosis asymmetric. This bud is produced anywhere on the body or in specific regions of the body, depending on the species.
  • Multicellular. In species Like corals, sponges or water hydras, budding gives rise to the famous colonies of these underwater living beings, or to new individuals that can move away from their parents and not to compete with them for food Y space.

Budding examples

Flatworms are invertebrates that can reproduce by budding.

Corals, flatworms and jellyfish or jellyfish are famous examples of budding reproduction. In some of these cases, such as the planarians (Planariidae), the sexual reproduction it is always the favorite of the species, since it provides genetic variety, but in specific conditions budding may be more convenient.

The laboratory experiment is well known in which, with a sharp instrument, the body of the planaria is cut longitudinally, and it is then observed how a completely identical new individual emerges from each piece.

Other types of asexual reproduction

In addition to sporulation, there are other non-sexual reproduction mechanisms (that is, they involve a single individual and have little or no genetic variation), such as:

  • Binary fission. Made by single-celled organisms, which replicate their DNA and cellular content. Thus they form a double individual. His plasma membrane narrows, divides the cell and creates two new genetically identical individuals.
  • Sporulation. It occurs thanks to specialized organs of the cell (sporangia, for example). Also, these cells, called spores, are covered in a super tough covering. The spores can survive long periods and in very hostile conditions. Thus they manage to produce a new individual when the environment is conducive.
  • Parthenogenesis. It is carried out by certain animals, such as flatworms, rotifers, tardigrades, insects, amphibians, fish, crustaceans and some reptiles. The new individual is genetically the same as the parent as it is created through the development of unfertilized female sex cells.
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