A

David

Darling

cytokinesis

Cytokinesis

Cytokinesis is the second step of mitotic cell division. Cytokinesis involves the movement and separation of cytoplasm during the formation of two daughter cells immediately after mitosis, which is the division of the nucleus. With the two nuclei already at opposite poles of the cell, the cell cytoplasm separates, and the cell pinches in the middle in a process called furrowing, ultimately leading to cleavage. In most cells, the mitotic spindle determines the site where the cell will begin to invaginate and split. The first signs of this puckering are usually visible sometime during anaphase. Cytokinesis then continues through telophase. Subsequently, the cytoskeleton in each daughter cell is reused to build the next spindle for mitosis.