Is yeast mating considered sexual reproduction? I'm a little confused as the haploid cells produced are sometimes called spores which are considerd a form of asexual reproduction but some sites say it is sexual reproduction. Could someone clarify for me please?
Thanks!
Hi...
Foremost, yeast reproduces asexually, as it is a fungi. That being said, there have also been some cases where yeast has reproduced sexually. (Hint: Research the works of the biologist "Guillermond".)
Therefore, it can definitely reproduce both by asexual and sexual means. As a rule of thumb, when talking about how yeast reproduces, probably just talk about the asexual way - unless the question warrants an explanation of the sexual means.
I'm not too familiar with this topic, so I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this.