Plant Cell Division and its Unique Features

Richard J Cyr, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA
Deb Fisher, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Published online: September 2012

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001686.pub2

In plant cells, mitosis involves many of the same ancestral components found in other eukaryotic cells, and the fundamental mitotic stages are similarly conserved. However, during the 1600 million years since plants and animals last shared a common ancestor, evolution has resulted in the appearance of unique (derived) features that reflect the evolutionary trajectory of plants. Unlike animal cells, plant cells are constrained by a cellulosic wall that largely precludes cell migration during overall development of the plant. Not only is cell migration limited by the wall, but this rigid matrix affects the character of the cytokinetic apparatus, which functions in a centrifugally expanding manner, rather than in a centripetally furrowing fashion. Another unique feature of plant cytokinesis involves the early determination (in G2) of the placement of the new cell plate, which has a long-lasting impact on plants cells, tissues and organs in the developing plant.

Key Concepts:

  • The formation of the bipolar spindle involves multiple pathways.
  • Although plant cell division has several derived features, plants make use of a highly conserved set of tools that are used by all eukaryotes during cell division.
  • The preprophase band is a mitotic structure unique to plants (and some green algae) that functions in the formation of the prophase spindle and presages the location of the future cell plate at cytokinesis.
  • Flowering plants lack centrioles and focused microtubule organising centres, but nonetheless, a bipolar spindle is assembled in most plant cells at prophase.
  • Cytokinesis involves the construction of a new cell plate that is constructed in a centrifugal fashion by the phragmoplast (which arises from the remnants of the anaphase spindle).

Keywords: cell division; plants; cytoskeleton; development; microtubules; preprophase band; phragmoplast

Figure 1. Microtubules are found in at least four arrays in dividing plant cells. (a) During much of interphase, the cortical microtubule array is transversely oriented to the major cellular axis. (b) The preprophase band (PPB) appears prior to mitosis. (c) The spindle apparatus typically is barrel-shaped and lacks the halo of astral microtubules around the pole. (d) The phragmoplast appears during cytokinesis. Reproduced from Cyr (1994). Copyright by Annual Reviews, Inc.
Figure 2. Two major pathways for mitotic spindle formation exist in flowering plants. The nuclear envelope provides the major site of nucleation for future spindle microtubules during G2/prophase. In cells that have PPB, the spindle is established during prophase and prometaphase, such that by the time of nuclear envelope breakdown, a fully formed bipolar spindle exists. In cells that lack a preprophase band, the bipolar spindle does not emerge until well into metaphase and this pathway likely utilises the condensed chromosomes for the organisation of the bipolar spindle. Both pathways may operate simultaneously and hence facilitate a rapid, and correct, assemblage for a functional bipolar spindle. Reproduced from Ambrose (2006). Copyright by Chris Ambrose, ProQuest.
Figure 3. A model of cell plate development in a higher plant cell. (a) In the early stages, microtubules carry vesicles to the future site, where they begin to fuse into tubes. (b) While new vesicles continue to arrive, the tubes fuse extensively into a tubulovesicular network. (c) A tubular network forms in the more central region and the network expands outward, with the advancing edge receiving new Golgi vesicles that maintain the tubulovesicular network at the periphery of the growing edge. (d) As the tubular network matures, it is transformed into a fenestrated sheet in the more central areas, whereas the more peripheral tubulovesicular region continues to be supplied with new Golgi vesicles via microtubule-based transport until the outer wall is contacted. (e) A new wall appears as the solidified plate is moulded into the existing wall. Key: microtubule, MT; Golgi-derived secretory vesicle, SV; ribosome-excluding phragmoplast matrix, M; fuzzy coat, F; clathrin-coated membrane bud, CB; membrane fusion tubule, FT; zone of adhesion, ZA; plasma membrane, PM; parent cell wall, PCW. Reproduced from Staehelin and Hepler (1996). Copyright by Elsevier.
Figure 4. Some of the major molecular elements of the phragmoplast. This cartoon, which represents the events at the growing edge of the phragmoplast, shows the microtubules with the plus-ends oriented inward and partially overlapping at the leading edge. Structural microtubule-associated proteins include map65s, together with mor1/gem1. Kinesins include atk5, kinesin-5 and atpakrp2. Elements involved in vesicle recognition and fusion include knolle, snap33, npsn11, syp31, syp112, syp121, cdc48, drp1a and atauroras. Reproduced from Otegui et al. (2005). Copyright by Elsevier.
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 Further Reading
    book Esau K (1977) Plant Anatomy. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
    book Liu B (ed) (2011) The Plant Cytoskeleton, vol. 2. Advances in Plant Biology, 331 pp. New York: Springer.
    Katahara I, Staehelin LA and Mineyuki Y (2010) A role for endocytosis in plant cytokinesis. Communicative & Integrative Biology 3: 36–38.
    book Verma DPS and Hong Z (eds) (2008) Cell Division Control in Plants, vol. 9. Plant Cell Monographs, 417 pp. Berlin: Spring-Verlag.

Related Sub-Topics:

Cell Membranes | Cell Cytoskeleton | Cell Cycle | Cell Shape | Plant Cell Growth | Plant Development
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Article Title: Plant Cell Division and its Unique Features
 
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Cyr, Richard J, and Fisher, Deb(Sep 2012) Plant Cell Division and its Unique Features. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0001686.pub2]