In order to discover the meaning of the term budding, it is necessary, first of all, to know its etymological origin. In this case, we can emphasize that it is a word that derives from Latin, exactly from "gemmatio" which means "formation of a bud" and that it is the result of the sum of several lexical components of said language:
-The noun "gemma", which is synonymous with "yolk".
-The suffix «-cion», which is used to indicate what is «action and effect».
The first meaning of the term mentioned by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary refers to the process of creating a gem, button or bud for the development of a branch, a flower or a leaf.
Beyond this specific use of the concept in the field of botany, the idea of budding also alludes to a method of asexual reproduction of plants and invertebrate animals . Budding consists of the separation of a fragment of an individual, which develops until generating a specimen similar to the original.
Budding occurs by cell division . As the new organism grows, it remains attached to its parent, until it reaches maturity and separates. It is important to mention that the parent and the new specimen share the genetic code, since the first transmits it to the second.
In addition to all the above, we cannot ignore that there are fundamentally two types of budding:
-Survival budding. This, like its name, is what organisms carry out when they discover that a series of unfavorable conditions are occurring that can put them in serious danger. So, faced with this situation, in order to survive, they choose to increase their number, that is, the number of descendants. This type of budding can be found, for example, in coral polyps.
-Budding propagation. This second type of budding is the one that takes place when organisms live with unbeatable and favorable environmental conditions. In that case, what they do is to start multiplying through budding for two main reasons: to take advantage of and get the most out of the resources they have and to increase their number of descendants.
Corals , certain worms , and various sponges reproduce by budding from the mother. Beyond these multicellular animals, budding also occurs as asymmetric mitosis in unicellular organisms , consisting of the appearance of a bud (a bulge) on the cell or plasma membrane.
In the same way, we have to emphasize that viruses that have a lipoprotein envelope also reproduce through budding.
Among plants , the hydra is one of the species that reproduces by budding. In this case, a bud first arises from successive cell division at a certain site. The sprout develops into a small specimen and finally detaches from the plant, beginning its life as an independent individual.