∞ generated and posted on 2016.08.26 ∞
Division of the cytoplasm during cell division.
Ultimately cytokinesis involves a separation of two daughter cells by two membranes, one belonging to each new cell. With cells that possess cell walls it is also necessary for cell wall to form between the two daughter cells.
Figure legend: Cytokinesis as seen in an animal cell (above) and a plant cell (below). Note that in both cases the nuclei of both daughter cells are fully intact. This means, essentially, that mitosis either is or is nearly completed by the time that cytokinesis has begun. Cytokinesis, in other words, is cytoplasmic division and this aspect of cell division complements but otherwise is separate from mitosis, which constitutes nuclear division (or duplication).
Cytokinesis follows nuclear division or duplication (mitosis), in eukaryotic cells, though there are situations, and species, in which nuclear division is not always directly followed by cytokinesis, resulting in the formation of multinucleated cells. See also meiosis and telophase.