reproduction

[MIA6]

In asexual reproduction, a parent ameba divides into two daughter amebas, so then this parent ameba dies?
thanks.

[Khaiy]

It's going to be hard to visualize if you think of it like that. Here's how I picture it: The parent amoeba copies its genetic material, and then splits in half. Each half has one complete set of the genetic material, and each half is a fully functioning amoeba. Does that help at all? I can try to clarify further.

[February Beetle]

That is very hard to explain. I think it is one of those things were you have to figure out for yourself if you think that you can call splitting in two as the original dying. It is kind of the same way that you think about our DNA splitting during Meiosis. Does that mean that our DNA is as old as all life, or do we call it new?

*Hope this wasn't too confusing, my mind is jumbled most of the time

[Darby]

It does present an interesting question - how old is an ameba?

Did its life begin at the last division, or when the first ameba evolved?

[david23]

yeah how long can these unicellular organisms live by constantly dividing. No one ever answered that.

[Heronumber0]

Isn't it the same with humans or with any other organism such as viruses? There seems to be a regression in each.

[Darby]

Consider what you're suggesting - if it had any validity, after a few billion years of dividing there would be no unicellular organisms, but they both outnumber and outweight the multicellular ones.