# Binary fission ("division in half") is a kind of asexual reproduction. It is the most common form of reproduction in prokaryotes and occurs in some single-celled eukaryotes. After replicating its genetic material, the cell divides into two nearly equal sized daughter cells.

# Organisms, both prokaryotes (the archaea and the bacteria), and eukaryotes (such as protists and unicellular fungi), reproduce asexually through binary fission; most of these are also capable of sexual reproduction. Another type of fission is multiple fission that is advantageous to the plant life cycle.

# Binary fission, asexual reproduction by a separation of the body into two new bodies. In the process of binary fission, an organism duplicates its genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and then divides into two parts (cytokinesis), with each new organism receiving one copy of DNA.

# A cleft forms in the middle and the parent cell splits into two identical daughter cells, each with its own DNA. The outcome of binary fission is two daughter cells which are genetically identical.