During telophase, the last stage of mitosis, the chromosomes have reached the poles and they begin to uncoil and become less condensed. Two new nuclear envelopes begin to form around each of the two separated sets of unreplicated chromosomes.
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Cleavage Furrow
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At the same time there is division of the cytoplasm (cytokinesis). In animal cells, a cleavage furrow — an indentation around the equator of the cell — appears (see photo left). By the end of telophase, the cell has divided in two along the plane defined by the furrow. In terrestrial plants, instead of a cleavage furrow, a cell plate forms halfway between the two separated sets of chromosomes, dividing the cell into two daughter cells.
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Late mitosis: Chromosomes (blue), microtubules (green)
and kinetochores
(pink). Other parts of
the cell are invisible
because they have not been
stained.
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