Sexual reproduction allows for

haploid individuals to pass their genes on to the next generation.

clones of parent cells to be produced more quickly and efficiently than does prokaryotic fission.

random mutations to occur at a faster rate than does asexual reproduction.

greater genetic diversity in offspring, compared to asexual reproduction.

Greater genetic diversity, compared to asexual reproduction.

If you think about it, this makes sense because in asexual reproduction, an organism reproduces all by itself, and uses its own genome as the blueprint for its' offspring. However with sexual reproduction, two organisms come together, each contributing half the required chromosomes, and the offspring gets 1/2 it's genes from the mother and 1/2 it's genes from the father. Sexual reproduction allows for greater diversity because it doesn't just rely on mutations to add new diversity to the genepool.

The basic repeating unit of nucleic acids are known as nucleotides. a nucleotide consists of three distinct chemical groups.