title: Plant cytokinesis: fission by fusion.
abstract: Cytokinesis partitions the cytoplasm of a dividing cell. Unlike yeast and animal cells, which form cleavage furrows from the plasma membrane, cells in higher plants make a new membrane independently of the plasma membrane by homotypic fusion of vesicles. In somatic cells, a plant-specific cytoskeletal array, called a phragmoplast, is thought to deliver vesicles to the plane of division. Vesicle fusion generates a membranous network, the cell plate, which, by fusion of later-arriving vesicles with its margin, expands towards the cell periphery and eventually fuses with the plasma membrane. In this review (part of the Cytokinesis series), I describe recent studies addressing the mechanisms that underlie cell-plate formation and the coordinated dynamics of membrane fusion and cytoskeletal reorganization during progression through cytokinesis.
authors.affiliation: ZMBP, Entwicklungsgenetik, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 3, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. gerd.juergens@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jürgens
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology; D048749:Cytokinesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D059828:Plant Cells; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics