Cell division partitions a parent biological cell into daughter biological cells. In a typical proliferating eukaryote, DNA replication precedes mitosis, which allocates chromosomes, and cytokinesis separates the cytoplasm. These events can be uncoupled: nuclear division without cytokinesis produces a cell with multiple nuclei. In many bacteria, binary fission instead coordinates chromosome segregation with formation of a new division boundary. [ref]
Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition by Bruce Alberts and others. Chapter 18, The Mechanics of Cell Division: mitosis and cytokinesis
Asymmetric cell division produces daughter cells with different developmental fates. Unequal size can accompany it, but the defining distinction is the daughters' outcomes. An asymmetry may arise from unequal inheritance of intracellular components or from different access to a stem-cell niche after division. For example, one daughter of a germline stem cell can retain its niche contact while the other begins cell differentiation. This couples cell polarity, spindle apparatus orientation and local signalling. [ref]
Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition by Bruce Alberts and others. Chapter 22, Stem Cells: asymmetric division and self-renewal
In the male Drosophila germline, a localized Bazooka patch provides a centrosome docking platform. Reducing Bazooka disrupted centrosome orientation; ectopic patches could associate with misplaced centrosomes. Measurements of both interphase centrosomes and mitotic spindle apparatus helped separate orientation defects from failure of the checkpoint that normally delays division. [ref]
The polarity protein Baz forms a platform for the centrosome orientation during asymmetric stem cell division in the Drosophila male germline by Mayu Inaba and others. 2015, Figure 3 and results: Baz knockdown, overexpression and orientation checkpoint
Components assemble around a selected site, coordinate membrane constriction and build the new cell-envelope boundary. FtsZ helps organize that machinery in many bacteria. A division defect can therefore arise from faulty placement, assembly or envelope synthesis. [ref]
Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition by Bruce Alberts and others. Chapters 12, 18 and 19, compartments, division and cell junctions
