equatorial plate

American  

noun

Cell Biology.

1. the central plane of the spindle in a dividing cell, to which chromosomes migrate during the metaphase of mitosis or meiosis.

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Etymology

Origin of equatorial plate

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

The parasite even participates in the equatorial plate that defines metaphase, along with the chromosomes!

From Scientific American

Both Theodor Boveri and van Beneden, in their papers of 1887, regarded the centrosome as initiating, not only the division of the cell-body but that of the chromatin also; Beneden even suggested that the pull of the mantle fibres caused the division of the chromatin in the equatorial plate.

From Project Gutenberg

W. Pfitzner in 1882 was the first to show that the splitting of the chromosomes in the equatorial plate was only the reappearance of a split in the spireme thread and was due to a corresponding 715 division into two of each of the chromatin granules.

From Project Gutenberg

The metaphase is the parting of the sister chromosomes in the equatorial plate; their passage to opposite poles of the spindle constitutes the anaphase; and their reconstruction to form the resting daughter nuclei, the telophase.

From Project Gutenberg

Figure 29 is the equatorial plate of a metaphase in which the larger component of the unequal pair has been removed in sectioning.

From Project Gutenberg