Question

(a) Name the method by which bread mould (Rhizopus fungus) reproduces. Is this method sexual or asexual?
(b) What is yeast? Describe the process of reproduction in yeast with the help of labelled diagrams.
(c) Name a tiny fresh-water animal which reproduces by the same method as that of yeast? What is this method known as?
(d) Name two marine organisms which also reproduce by the same method as yeast but form colonies.

Answer 1

(a) The bread mould reproduces by spore formation. It is an asexual mode of reproduction.

(b) Yeast is a non-green plant (fungus). It reproduces by budding. In yeast, a bud first appears outside its cell wall. Immediately the parent nucleus divides itself into two in such a way that one of its parts moves into the bud. Then the bud detaches itself from the parent cell to form a new yeast cell.
Figure: Reproduction in yeast

(c) Hydra reproduces by the same method as yeast, i.e. budding.

(d) Sponges and corals are the two marine animals that reproduce by the same method as yeast; however, they form colonies.