Question

In what two ways is a mitotic division in an animal cell different from the mitotic division in a plant cell?

Answer 1

Hint: Plant cell has a cell wall and animal cell has only the plasma membrane where the cytoplasm division takes place easily. Plant cells do not have centrioles.

Complete answer: Mitosis is the cell division which occurs in somatic cells. It follows a cell cycle where there are phases called the division phase and the interphase. First, the cell prepares for the division by making proteins. Then, the cell undergoes DNA replication. In mitosis, the number of chromosomes remains the same but still, there is the duplication of chromosomes and distribution of chromosomes called karyokinesis. After segregation of chromosomes to each cell, there is a division in the cytoplasm of the cell called cytokinesis. Plant cells and animal cells differ in the cytokinesis phase of the cell division.

Mitosis in plant cells	Mitosis in animal cells
Plant cells have a rigid cell wall which makes them difficult to separate the cytoplasm during cytoplasmic division.	Animal cells have only the plasma membrane surrounding the cell
They form a cell plate between the two daughter cells.	They easily form folding and create cleavage or furrow in cytokinesis.
The phragmoplasts which are similar in function to the centrioles, direct the microtubules.	The furrow is created by contracting protein filaments.
The components of the cell plate are formed by the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. There are accumulated enzymes, structural proteins and glucose proteins are formed in interphase and used for the formation of the new cell wall. The Golgi membranes get incorporated to the cell membranes too.	Centrioles direct the spindle fibres. This contractile ring is made up of actin, myosin and regulatory proteins. The filaments contract all the way forming two separate daughter cells where cellular signals initiate the furrow.

Note: Cytokinesis need not to be a symmetrical division always. In oogenesis and spermatogenesis, there is asymmetrical division forming one large cell and three polar bodies.