What is the difference between sporulating and mitotic divisions in yeast?
Yeast can exist both as diploids and as haploids. The haploids can either go through mitosis to generate more haploids, or they can mate, in which an a cell and an a cell merge to form an a/a diploid. Mating only occurs between cells of different mating type, so diploids do not mate since they are both mating types in one. A diploid undergoes mitosis to “reproduce,” just like bacteria do, forming more diploids. Alternatively, it can undergo meiosis (sporulation) to produce 4 haploid cells. The products of sporulation are called tetrads.
