While cytokinesis has been intensely studied, how it is executed during development is not well understood, despite a long-standing appreciation that various aspects of cytokinesis vary across cell and tissue types. To address this, we investigated cytokinesis during the invariant lineage of the C. elegans embryo and find that several parameters are reproducibly altered in different stages. During early divisions, cells undergo consistent patterns of furrow ingression asymmetry and midbody inheritance, suggesting specific regulation of these events. During morphogenesis, in the intestine, pharynx, and amphid sensilla, we find several alterations including migration of midbodies to the apical surface during cellular polarization. In each tissue, Aurora B kinase localizes to the apical membrane after internalization of other midbody components. Perturbations of cytokinesis disrupt lumen formation and dendrite formation. Therefore, cytokinesis shows surprising diversity during development, and may regulate the final interphase architecture of a terminally dividing cell during morphogenesis.

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