Difference Between Animal and Plant Mitosis

The key difference between animal and plant mitosis is that the formation of a cleavage furrow occurs during the animal mitosis while the formation of a cell plate occurs in plant mitosis in order to separate the resulting nuclei from each other.

Mitosis is one of the vital processes that the life demands to sustain. Thus, in mitosis, a single cell divides into two daughter cells. Therefore, all eukaryotic plant and animal cells undergo the process of mitosis. The outcome of the process is two new cells that contain the same number of chromosomes as in the first or original cell, and this is common for both plant and animal cells. In simple words, mitosis produces two daughter cells that are genetically identical with the parent cell. Moreover, there is a slight difference between animal and plant mitosis due to the structural differences in animal and plant cells.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Animal Mitosis
3. What is Plant Mitosis
4. Similarities Between Animal and Plant Mitosis
5. Side by Side Comparison – Animal vs Plant Mitosis in Tabular Form
6. Summary

What is Animal Mitosis?

Mitosis in animal cells is a very complex process involving three major steps known as interphase, nuclear division, and cytoplasmic division. The interphase is the longest of all taking almost 90 per cent of the cell cycle, and during this phase, cell prepares to divide into two complete new cells. The interphase has three main sub-phases called G1 phase, S phase, and G2 phase. The organelle formation, DNA replication, and chromosome formation take place in G1, S, and G2 stages respectively.

The second major step of the mitosis is the nuclear division, which is a highly complex process including five steps known as Prophase, Prometaphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase. All these phases perform different processes including disassembling the nuclear envelope and nucleolus, chromatin formation, spindle formation with centrioles from the opposite ends, breaking the two sister chromosomes from the centromeres, and spindle shortening to polarize the two newly formed nuclei, etc.

Figure 01: Mitosis in Animal Cell

After the formation of two nuclei, the nuclear envelop reform and enclose the two nuclei separately. Finally, cytokinesis starts and divides the cytoplasm into two parts by constricting the cell membrane through the middle of the cell. The two newly formed cells then continue in the cell cycle by entering the interphase. Likewise, mitosis takes place in every tissue of the animals, and it is a highly meticulous process regulated by proteins. The regulation is very strict, and each process passes through checkpoints to ensure the product is stable and not harmful to the cell and eventually to the animal.

What is Plant Mitosis?

The basic principles of the plant mitosis are similar to the animal mitosis. Also, it has similar five major phases. Accordingly, plant mitosis begins with the movement of the nucleus into the middle of the cell. However, the nuclear division takes place without the involvement of the centrioles to divide the chromatins from the centrioles. While the nuclear division is being completed, the cytoplasm starts to divide with the formation of a plane called phragmoplast or cell plate. After that, the cell membranes and cell wall are formed to complete the division of the two newly formed cells.

Figure 02: Mitosis in Plant Cell

Unlike animal mitosis which occurs throughout the body cells, plant mitosis occurs only in the meristem cells. Additionally, the formation of constrictions does not take place in the plant mitosis.

What are the Similarities Between Animal and Plant Mitosis?

• Basic principles of cell division are the same in animal and plant mitosis.
• Both animal and plant mitosis occur in order to grow and repair the tissues.
• Also, both consist of similar phases.
• Furthermore, both produce daughter cells that are genetically identical to the parent cell.
• Moreover, both animal and plant mitosis conclude with the cytoplasmic division or the cytokinesis.

What is the Difference Between Animal and Plant Mitosis?

The key difference between animal and plant mitosis depends on the cytokinesis process. During the animal mitosis process, a cleavage furrow forms in order to separate two new nuclei from each other while during the plant mitosis, a cell plate forms between two new nuclei to separate them. Furthermore, the spindle formation in plant cells takes place without centrioles, while animal cell mitosis involves the centriole in this process. Thus, it is another difference between animal and plant mitosis.

Moreover, a further difference between animal and plant mitosis is that the animal cell constricts through the middle during the cytoplasmic division after the formation of two separate nuclei. But, plant mitosis does not involve any constriction of the cell. Besides, animal mitosis occurs in all the animal tissues except during the sex cell formation while plant mitosis occurs only in the meristem tissues. Therefore, we can consider this also as a difference between animal and plant mitosis.

The below illustration shows the difference between animal and plant mitosis in tabular form.

Summary – Animal vs Plant Mitosis

Mitosis is one of the two cell division processes that occurs in eukaryotic cells especially in plant and animal cells. The overall process is similar in both animal and plant cells. But there are several differences in animal and plant mitosis. The key difference between animal and plant mitosis is the formation of a cleavage furrow in animal cells and the formation of a cell plate in plant cells during the cytokinesis. Furthermore, animal mitosis involves centrioles while plant mitosis does not involve centrioles. Also, animal mitosis occurs throughout the animal tissues while plant mitosis occurs only in the meristem tissue. Thus, this summarizes the difference between animal and plant mitosis.

Reference:

1. “Phases of Mitosis.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy. Available here  

Image Courtesy:

1.”Animal cell cycle-en”By Kelvinsong – Own work, (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia  
2.”Plant cell cycle”By Kelvinsong – Own work, (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia  

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