Question

Compare and contrast sexual and asexual reproduction. Explain relevance to evolution. Be descriptive on each and every similarity and difference.

Answer 1

Property	Sexual reproduction	Asexual reproduction
Number of parents	Two parents are required for mating	Only one parent is needed
Cell division process	Cells divide by Meiosis	Cells divide by Fission, budding, or regeneration
Evolution	It leads to high genetic variation in newer generatikons. This is supposed to be fundamental to evolution.	There is very little chance of variation with asexual reproduction. Mutations in DNA is less frequent as in sexual reproduction.
Shown by	Higher invertebrates and all vertebrates	Lower organisms like Bacteria, Fungus, Viruses, etc.
Time involved for reproduction	Sexual reproduction can take several months to complete.	Asexual reproduction is completed in a very short period of time.
Number of offspring

Evolution in Asexual Reproduction: Asexual reproduction is the process of reproduction of offsprings from one parent. In this process, there is no mating or mixing of genetics in asexual reproduction. In other words, offsprings are the results in a clone of the parent or offsprings have identical DNA as the parent. There is usually no variation from generation to generation in a species population. Only way to obtain some diversity is through mutations at the DNA level. This may result from the mistake in the cycle of mitosis, which may later passed down to the offspring.

Evolution in sexual Reproduction: In the process of sexual reproduction, female gamete unites with a male gamete which forms the basis of offspring. Offsprings are actually a genetic combination of both mother and father. Half of the chromosomes comes each from its mother and father. This makes the offspring genetically different from their parents and even their siblings. Mutations can also happen in sexually reproduction which further provides diversity to the offsprings. During the formation of gametes, the process of meiosis increase diversity as well. Independent assortment of the chromosomes during meiosis and random fertilization add diversity in genetics.