<P> In cell biology, the cleavage furrow is the indentation of the cell's surface that begins the progression of cleavage, by which animal and some algal cells undergo cytokinesis, the final splitting of the membrane, in the process of cell division . The same proteins responsible for muscle contraction, actin and myosin, begin the process of forming the cleavage furrow, creating an actomyosin ring . Other cytoskeletal proteins and actin binding proteins are involved in the procedure . </P> <P> Plant cells do not perform cytokinesis through this exact method but the two procedures are not totally different . Animal cells form an actin - myosin contractile ring within the equatorial region of the cell membrane that constricts to form the cleavage furrow . In plant cells, Golgi vesicle secretions form a cell plate or septum on the equatorial plane of the cell wall by the action of microtubules of the phragmoplast . The cleavage furrow in animal cells and the phragmoplast in plant cells are complex structures made up of microtubules and microfilaments that aide in the final separation of the cells into two identical daughter cells . </P>

Play a role in cleavage furrow formation during cell division