Comparing Cell Division in Animals, Plants, and Bacteria

Question

For each statement, mark whether it is true or false for bacteria, animal cells, and plant cells.1. Cells divide by constriction of a ring of protein.2. The presence of a cell wall prevents the cell from dividing by constriction.3. Tubulin or tubulin-like molecules function in binary fission or cytokinesis.

Completed comparison Statement Bacteria Animals Plants Cells divide by constriction of a ring of protein True True False The cell wall prevents division by constriction False False True Tubulin or tubulin-like molecules function in binary fission or cytokinesis True False True Why each column differs Bacteria: The tubulin-like protein FtsZ assembles into a ring at the future division site. The ring coordinates the divisome, membrane constriction, and synthesis of a new septum, so a bacterial cell wall does not simply block division by constriction. Animals: An actin-and-myosin contractile ring tightens beneath the plasma membrane and creates a cleavage furrow. Animal cells have no rigid cell wall, so constriction can pinch one cell into two. In the course's simplified protein comparison, the cytokinetic ring is actin based rather than tubulin based. Plants: A rigid cell wall prevents an animal-style cleavage furrow. Microtubules form the phragmoplast, which guides vesicles to the cell center. Those vesicles merge into a cell plate that expands outward and becomes the new wall and membranes between the daughter cells. The table compares three physical solutions to the same problem: distributing the cytoplasm and enclosing each daughter cell after the genetic material has been separated.

Statement	Bacteria	Animals	Plants
Cells divide by constriction of a ring of protein	True	True	False
The cell wall prevents division by constriction	False	False	True
Tubulin or tubulin-like molecules function in binary fission or cytokinesis	True	False	True

Evidence boundary

The True/False table follows the introductory course's representative-structure model. Animal-cell microtubules also help position and regulate the cleavage furrow, so the Animals=False entry must not be expanded into a claim that microtubules have no role anywhere in animal cytokinesis.

Sources

These references support the concepts and methods used in the explanation above.