In plant cells, a major difference in nuclear division compared with animal cells is that which occurs?

• A. Homologous chromosomes are paired.
• B. Centrioles are replicated.
• C. Spindle fibers are missing.
• D. Cell plates are synthesized.

Answer: (D)

During plant cell division, the separation of the cytoplasm happens differently from animals. After the chromosomes have been pulled apart during mitosis, vesicles produced by the Golgi apparatus gather at the center of the cell and fuse to form a cell plate. This plate grows outward until it reaches the cell membrane, dividing the cell into two and eventually forming the separating cell walls between the daughter cells. Plants need this rigid wall formation, so they don’t pinch the membrane like animal cells do.

So the key distinction is that cell plates are synthesized to separate the daughter cells in plants. The other ideas aren’t the defining difference: homologous chromosomes pairing is a feature of meiosis, not mitosis in plants vs animals; spindle fibers form in both; and the presence or absence of centrioles isn’t the central contrasting mechanism for how plant cells divide.