Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Wikipedia.
phragmoplast
[′frag·mə‚plast](cell and molecular biology)
A thin barrier which is formed across the spindle equator in late cytokinesis in plant cells and within which the cell wall is laid down.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Phragmoplast
in higher plants, a formation that arises between the daughter nuclei during cell division and that consists of microtubules, ducts of the endoplasmic network, and tiny pectin granules. In the equatorial plane of the phragmoplast there occurs an aggregation of bubbles, probably derivatives of the Golgi complex, which develop into a cellular septum, that is, a membrane that becomes the cell wall. Cellulose is deposited on both sides of the wall. Gradually, as the cell wall is formed, the phragmoplast moves toward the periphery of the mother cell and continues to function until there is closure of the newly formed cell wall with the membrane of the mother cell.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.