What is a cell plate and when does it form?

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cell division

cytokinesis

  • In cytokinesis

    …new cell wall, called the cell plate, between the two daughter cells. Once the daughter cells are separated, cellulose synthesis begins, and the cell plate becomes a primary cell wall.

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What is a cell plate and when does it form?

Phragmoplast and cell plate formation in a plant cell during cytokinesis. Left side: Phragmoplast forms and cell plate starts to assemble in the center of the cell. Towards the right: Phragmoplast enlarges in a donut-shape towards the outside of the cell, leaving behind mature cell plate in the center. The cell plate will transform into the new cell wall once cytokinesis is complete.

Cytokinesis in terrestrial plants occurs by cell plate formation. This process entails the delivery of Golgi-derived and endosomal vesicles carrying cell wall and cell membrane components to the plane of cell division and the subsequent fusion of these vesicles within this plate.

After formation of an early tubulo-vesicular network at the center of the cell, the initially labile cell plate consolidates into a tubular network and eventually a fenestrated sheet. The cell plate grows outward from the center of the cell to the parental plasma membrane with which it will fuse, thus completing cell division. Formation and growth of the cell plate is dependent upon the phragmoplast, which is required for proper targeting of Golgi-derived vesicles to the cell plate.

As the cell plate matures in the central part of the cell, the phragmoplast disassembles in this region and new elements are added on its outside. This process leads to a steady expansion of the phragmoplast and, concomitantly, to a continuous retargeting of Golgi-derived vesicles to the growing edge of the cell plate. Once the cell plate reaches and fuses with the plasma membrane the phragmoplast disappears. This event not only marks the separation of the two daughter cells, but also initiates a range of biochemical modifications that transform the callose-rich, flexible cell plate into a cellulose-rich, stiff primary cell wall.

The heavy dependence of cell plate formation on active Golgi stacks explains why plant cells, unlike animal cells, do not disassemble their secretion machinery during cell division.

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noun

(in plant cells) a plate that develops at the midpoint between the two groups of chromosomes in a dividing cell and that is involved in forming the wall between the two new daughter cells.

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Origin of cell plate

First recorded in 1880–85

Words nearby cell plate

cellophane, cellophane noodle, Cellosolve, cell pack, cell phone, cell plate, cell sap, cell theory, cellular, cellular differentiation, cellular immunity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use cell plate in a sentence

  • Joel Osteen wants to talk about muting your cell phone at the dinner table.

  • At that point, the Library of Congress can once again decide to prohibit consumers from unlocking their cell phones.

  • Earlier this year, security at major airports was tightened because of a tip that al-Asiri had been working on a cell phone bomb.

  • Using a heatproof slotted spoon, remove the shallots to a paper towel-lined plate.

  • Allow beans to cool completely then remove to a paper towel-lined plate to dry.

  • Well, the pudding moment arrived, and a huge slice almost obscured from sight the plate before us.

  • He conducts this ceremony with the greatest solemnity, occasionally pronouncing these incantatory words, "Plate or shell, sah?"

  • In his condemned cell he composed a beautiful poem of 14 verses (“My last Thought”), which was found by his wife and published.

  • Some writers state that each cell contains about one thousand seeds.

  • We sat down pell-mell, anywhere, I next to Liszt, who kept putting things on my plate.

Scientific definitions for cell plate


A partition that is formed during telophase of cell division in plants and some algae and that separates the two newly formed daughter cells.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

What is cell plate?

Cell plate is the structure found inside the dividing cells of terrestrial plants and some algae. It develops in the middle plane of the cell separating two daughter cells during cell division.

At what stage does the cell plate form?

During telophase, these Golgi vesicles move on microtubules to collect at the metaphase plate. There, the vesicles fuse from the center toward the cell walls; this structure is called a cell plate.

Where does the cell plate form?

(in plant cells) a plate that develops at the midpoint between the two groups of chromosomes in a dividing cell and that is involved in forming the wall between the two new daughter cells.