What process do cells undergo to divide and produce two identical daughter cells?

Cells undergo mitosis to divide and produce two identical daughter cells. This process is crucial for growth, development, and tissue repair in multicellular organisms. Mitosis includes several stages: prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase, leading to the division of the cell’s nucleus and the distribution of identical sets of chromosomes to each daughter cell.

During mitosis, the chromosomes are duplicated and organized, ensuring that each daughter cell receives an identical copy of the genetic material. This is essential for maintaining genetic consistency within somatic cells, enabling proper functioning and continuity of cell lines in the organism.

In contrast, apoptosis refers to programmed cell death, which is a mechanism to remove damaged or unnecessary cells without causing inflammation. Meiosis, on the other hand, is a type of cell division that reduces the chromosome number by half and is essential for the production of gametes (sperm and eggs) in sexual reproduction, resulting in four non-identical daughter cells. Binary fission is a form of asexual reproduction primarily seen in prokaryotic organisms, like bacteria, where a single cell divides into two identical cells, but it is a different process than mitosis employed by eukaryotic cells.