Preprophase band
![The preprophase band predicts the cell division plane: 1) Preprophase band formation during preprophase. 2) Metaphase spindle orients with the equator along the plane marked by preprophase band. 3) Phragmoplast and cell plate form along the plane marked by preprophase band. 4) The new cell wall of the daughter cells connects with the parent cell wall along the line of the former preprophase band location.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Preprophaseband5931.png")
The preprophase band is a microtubule array found in plant cells that are about to undergo cell division and enter the preprophase stage of the plant cell cycle. Besides the phragmosome, it is the first microscopically visible sign that a plant cell is about to enter mitosis. The preprophase band was first observed and described by Jeremy Pickett-Heaps and Donald Northcote at Cambridge University in 1966.