A new type of cell division
At school you were likely taught that there are two types of cell division: mitosis and meiosis. Scientists have now accidentally discovered a third type in the skin of zebrafish larvae.
This third type skips DNA replication and simply splits the DNA between the two new cells. This makes cell division much faster, which is why it is used to rapidly produce new skin cells as needed during the rapid growth of zebrafish larvae.
After a few weeks, when the larval growth rate has slowed, these cells are replaced with new cells which have the full set of zebrafish DNA. From an engineering perspective, this design is brilliant.
- Scientists identify a new form of cellular division, taipeitimes.com, 4 May 2022.
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