The phragmosome is a sheet of cytoplasm forming in highly vacuolated

plant cell Plant cells are the cells present in green plants, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Their distinctive features include primary cell walls containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectin, the presence of plastids with the capabi ...

s in preparation for

mitosis In cell biology, mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new nuclei. Cell division by mitosis gives rise to genetically identical cells in which the total number of chromosomes is mainta ...

. In contrast to animal cells, plant cells often contain large central

vacuole A vacuole () is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic mo ...

s occupying up to 90% of the total cell volume and pushing the cell nucleus, nucleus against the cell wall. In order for mitosis to occur, the nucleus has to move into the center of the cell. This happens during G2 phase of the cell cycle. Initially, cytoplasmic strands form that penetrate the central vacuole and provide pathways for nuclear migration. Actin filaments along these cytoplasmic strands pull the nucleus into the center of the cell. These cytoplasmic strands fuse into a transverse sheet of cytoplasm along the plane of future cell division, forming the phragmosome. Phragmosome formation is only clearly visible in dividing plant cells that are highly vacuolated. Just before mitosis, a dense band of microtubules appears around the phragmosome and the future division plane just below the plasma membrane. This preprophase band marks the equatorial plane of the future mitotic spindle as well as the future fusion sites for the new cell plate with the existing cell wall. It disappears as soon as the nuclear envelope breaks down and the mitotic spindle forms. When mitosis is completed, the cell plate and new cell wall form starting from the center along the plane occupied by the phragmosome. The cell plate grows outwards until it fuses with the cell wall of the dividing cell at exactly the spots predicted by the preprophase band.

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