Why is cell division a necessary function of the living things?

Answer 1

Living things need cells that are able to divide (this is called Mitosis) so that they can grow. Without the cells that can divide, then it will not be able to grow, or repair itself when injured. Also, babies would not be able to be formed if cells could not divide.

Answer 2

For quite a few reasons which I shall endeavor to answer! Without it everything would be single-cellular (like an amoeba!) and have no way to reproduce - therefore there would be no life!

Reproduction/Growth

Cells divide through the process of mitosis to multiply, therefore, in multicellular eukaryotic organisms, the organism grows. This is vital in both sexual and asexual reproduction, as in both cases the offspring need to grow! In a zygote (fertilised egg) and embryo (a bit bigger! :) ) there are only embryonic stem cells. These divide to form 3 layers which later specialise into different types of bodily cells.

Meiosis

Meiosis is the process of creating sex cells (gametes). In animals these are the sperm and egg cells. Body cells undergo interphase, mitosis and cytokinesis, (cell division) but with a second division (repeated prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase) to create 4 haploid (half the genetic information) daughter cells. Without cell division no gametes could be created, therefore no sexual reproduction could take place.

Repair

Cells divide to repair damaged areas. If you cut yourself the cells have to replicate to literally fill the gap!

Replacement

Most cells (Except stem and cancerous cells) have a Hayflick limit. This is the number of times a cell can divide before it quite literally dies of old age. There is discrepancy over the actual Hayflick limit, although it is believe to be 50 or 52 divisions. This shows that cells can die, so with no cell division you wouldn't live very long before all your cells were dead!

Prokaryotes

Prokaryotic organisms (such as bacteria) are simple structures. They have no membrane-bound organelles, nor even a nuclear envelope. They, along with some plants, reproduce asexually, meaning they divide and create more of themselves. Without cell division they could not reproduce, therefore survive.

Answer 3

There is no reproduction without cell division. Even for a multicellular organism, such as a human being, each individual starts existence as a single cell, the zygote, which then by a repeated process of cell division, becomes an embryo which becomes a fetus which becomes a baby.

Answer 4

GROW. when the cells divide, there becomes 2 cells instead of one and yeh... lol we did it all last yr in science!