 Final stage of cell division |
Cytokinesis (/ˌsaɪtoʊkɪˈniːsɪs/) is the final stage of cell division in the cell cycle, following mitosis. During cytokinesis the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell is divided into two daughter cells. The cell's spindle apparatus partitions and transports duplicated chromatids into the cytoplasm of the separating daughter cells. It thereby ensures that chromosome number and complement are maintained from one generation to the next and that, except in special cases, the daughter cells will be functional copies of the parent cell.
Particular functions demand asymmetric cell division; for example, in oogenesis in animals, the ovum takes almost all the cytoplasm and organelles. This leaves very little for the resulting polar bodies, which in most species die without function, though they do take on various special functions in other species.1 Another form of mitosis occurs in tissues such as and that omits cytokinesis, thereby yielding ().