[
Genetics,
2019]
Mitotic cell divisions increase cell number while faithfully distributing the replicated genome at each division. The <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> embryo is a powerful model for eukaryotic cell division. Nearly all of the genes that regulate cell division in <i>C. elegans</i> are conserved across metazoan species, including humans. The <i>C. elegans</i> pathways tend to be streamlined, facilitating dissection of the more redundant human pathways. Here, we summarize the virtues of <i>C. elegans</i> as a model system and review our current understanding of centriole duplication, the acquisition of pericentriolar material by centrioles to form centrosomes, the assembly of kinetochores and the mitotic spindle, chromosome segregation, and cytokinesis.