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Summary: what are symmetric and asymmetric cell divisionG? How are they different and similar? The animations and bioclips illustrate these two phenomena.

symmetric V.S ASymmetric cell division


Symmetric cell division
(3.5 MB, movie length: 1' 41")
Cell Division Animation
Asymmetric cell division
(17.8 MB, movie length: 1' 21")

Note: the movie of asymmetric cell division shows an embryo development up to 2-cell stage to match the division stage in symmetric cell division. The same animation with development up to 4-cell stage is available here (23.5 MB, movie length: 1'56").

About these two cell divisions:

1) Symmetric cell division: This illustrates the proliferation of cells from one to two. It generates two same-size daughter cells that possess the same components and will develop into same cell type.

2) Asymmetric cell division (also known as determinative cell division): it yields two daughter cells with different developmental potentials. These two daughter cells might be different in size and shape and will develop into two different types of cells, e.g.: muscle and nerve cells.

BioClips of asymmetric and symmetric cell division

Note : this section contains more advanced information. You might want to visit general information about cell polarity before playing the flash movies below.

BioclipsG that illustrate biological phenomena observed in symmetric cell division and cell polarity (Flash movie)

Symmetric Cell Division
(7.2 MB, movie length: 2' 55")

Cell Polarity & Asymmetric Cell Division
(4.4 MB, movie length: 3')

 

Glossary:

Bioclip: a self-contained animations with in-depth presentation of biology concepts to help convey the research focus of a laboratory.

Cell Division: separation of a cell into two daughter cells. In higher eukaryotes, it involves division of the nucleus (mitosis) and of the cytoplasm (cytokinesis); mitosis is often used to refer to both nuclear and cytoplasmic division.