The nucleoli begin to break down in prophase, resulting in the discontinuation of ribosome production.[3] This indicates a redirection of cellular energy from general cellular metabolism to cellular division.[3] The nuclear envelope stays intact during this process.[10]
Prophase I is divided into five phases: leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, diplotene, and diakinesis. In addition to the events that occur in mitotic prophase, several crucial events occur within these phases such as pairing of homologous chromosomes and the reciprocal exchange of genetic material between these homologous chromosomes. Prophase I occurs at different speeds dependent on species and sex. Many species arrest meiosis in diplotene of prophase I until ovulation.[3]: 98 In humans, decades can pass as oocytes remain arrested in prophase I only to quickly complete meiosis I prior to ovulation.[12]
In the second phase of prophase I, zygotene (from the Greek for "conjugation"), all maternally and paternally derived chromosomes have found their homologous partner.[3]: 98 The homologous pairs then undergo synapsis, a process by which the synaptonemal complex (a proteinaceous structure) aligns corresponding regions of genetic information on maternally and paternally derived non-sister chromatids of homologous chromosome pairs.[3]: 98 [12] The paired homologous chromosome bound by the synaptonemal complex are referred to as bivalents or tetrads.[10][3]: 98 Sex (X and Y) chromosomes do not fully synapse because only a small region of the chromosomes are homologous.[3]: 98
The third phase of prophase I, pachytene (from the Greek for "thick"), begins at the completion of synapsis.[3]: 98 Chromatin has condensed enough that chromosomes can now be resolved in microscopy.[10] Structures called recombination nodules form on the synaptonemal complex of bivalents. These recombination nodules facilitate genetic exchange between the non-sister chromatids of the synaptonemal complex in an event known as crossing-over or genetic recombination.[3]: 98 Multiple recombination events can occur on each bivalent. In humans, an average of 2-3 events occur on each chromosome.[13]: 681
Diplotene
In the fourth phase of prophase I, diplotene (from the Greek for "twofold"), crossing-over is completed.[3]: 99 [10]Homologous chromosomes retain a full set of genetic information; however, the homologous chromosomes are now of mixed maternal and paternal descent.[3]: 99 Visible junctions called chiasmata hold the homologous chromosomes together at locations where recombination occurred as the synaptonemal complex dissolves.[12][3]: 99 It is at this stage where meiotic arrest occurs in many species.[3]: 99
Diakinesis
In the fifth and final phase of prophase I, diakinesis (from the Greek for "double movement"), full chromatin condensation has occurred and all four sister chromatids can be seen in bivalents with microscopy. The rest of the phase resemble the early stages of mitotic prometaphase, as the meiotic prophase ends with the spindle apparatus beginning to form, and the nuclear membrane beginning to break down.[10][3]: 99
Prophase II
Prophase II of meiosis is very similar to prophase of mitosis. The most noticeable difference is that prophase II occurs with a haploid number of chromosomes as opposed to the diploid number in mitotic prophase.[12][10] In both animal and plant cells chromosomes may de-condense during telophase I requiring them to re-condense in prophase II.[3]: 100 [10] If chromosomes do not need to re-condense, prophase II often proceeds very quickly as is seen in the model organismArabidopsis.[10]
Prophase I arrest
Female mammals and birds are born possessing all the oocytes needed for future ovulations, and these oocytes are arrested at the prophase I stage of meiosis.[15] In humans, as an example, oocytes are formed between three and four months of gestation within the fetus and are therefore present at birth. During this prophase I arrested stage (dictyate), which may last for decades, four copies of the genome are present in the oocytes. The adaptive significance of prophase I arrest is still not fully understood. However, it has been proposed that the arrest of oocytes at the four genome copy stage may provide the informational redundancy needed to repair damage in the DNA of the germline.[15] The repair process used appears to be homologous recombinational repair[15][16] Prophase arrested oocytes have a high capability for efficient repair of DNA damages.[16] DNA repair capability appears to be a key quality control mechanism in the female germ line and a critical determinant of fertility.[16]
Differences in plant and animal cell prophase
The most notable difference between prophase in plant cells and animal cells occurs because plant cells lack centrioles. The organization of the spindle apparatus is associated instead with foci at opposite poles of the cell or is mediated by chromosomes. Another notable difference is preprophase, an additional step in plant mitosis that results in formation of the preprophase band, a structure composed of microtubules. In mitotic prophase I of plants, this band disappears.[10]
^de Jong H (December 2003). "Visualizing DNA domains and sequences by microscopy: a fifty-year history of molecular cytogenetics". Genome. 46 (6): 943–6. doi:10.1139/g03-107. PMID14663510.
^ abcdefghijkTaiz L, Zeiger E, Moller IM, Murphy A (2015). Plant Physiology and Development. Sunderland MA: Sinauer Associates. pp. 35–39. ISBN978-1-60535-255-8.