Which feature is specific to cytokinesis in plant cells?

• A. No centrosomes, cell plate forms and becomes wider to form a new cell wall
• B. Cleavage furrow forms and the cell membrane pinches in
• C. The cytoplasm divides but without a clear cell plate
• D. The nucleus divides during cytokinesis

Answer: (A)

In plant cells, cytokinesis is accomplished by building a cell plate that forms in the center and then expands outward to separate the two new daughter cells. This plate starts as vesicles derived from the Golgi that fuse together to create a membrane-bound disk, which eventually fuses with the existing cell membranes and matures into a separating cell wall. This mechanism is tied to the absence of centrosomes with centrioles in plant cells, so they don’t use a contractile ring to pinch the membrane inward (the cleavage furrow seen in many animal cells). Instead, the cell plate is the distinctive feature that completes cytokinesis in plants, ensuring the cytoplasm is divided and a new cell wall forms between the daughters. The nucleus division happens during mitosis, not cytokinesis, so that is not the plant-specific feature here.