Update on plant cytokinesis: rule and divide

Abstract

Many decisions made during plant development depend on the placement of the cytokinetic wall. Cytokinesis involves the biogenesis of the cell plate that progresses centrifugally and until the fusion of the cell plate with the parental cell wall. The phragmoplast facilitates the growth of the cell plate and directs it's insertion at the cell cortex by a mechanism known as phragmoplast guidance. Communication between the phragmoplast and its destination, the cortical division zone, however, is not well understood. The preprophase band predicts the site of cell plate fusion, seemingly controlling the site of the cortical division zone establishment, but recent results suggest the role of this cytoskeletal array to be rather subtle. This is indirectly supported by certain types of phragmoplast-driven cell division in mosses and algae, which lack preprophase bands. In this review article, we summarize recent insight concerning phragmoplast expansion and guidance.