Membrane fission versus cell division: When membrane proliferation is not enough.

Cell division is a process that produces two or more cells from one cell by replicating the original chromosomes so that each daughter cell gets a copy of them. Membrane fission is a process by which a biological membrane is split into two new ones in such a manner that the contents of the initial membrane get distributed or separated among the new membranes. Inspired by these biological phenomena, new kinds of models were considered in the discipline of Membrane Computing, in the context of P systems with active membranes, and tissue P systems that use symport/antiport rules, respectively.