Editing Meiosis (section)

=====Zygotene=====
{{Main|Zygotene}}

Leptotene is followed by the ''zygotene'' stage, also known as ''zygonema'', from Greek words meaning "paired threads",<ref name="Snustad_2008"/>{{rp|27}} which in some organisms is also called the bouquet stage because of the way the telomeres cluster at one end of the nucleus.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Link J, Jantsch V | title = Meiotic chromosomes in motion: a perspective from Mus musculus and Caenorhabditis elegans | journal = Chromosoma | volume = 128 | issue = 3 | pages = 317–330 | date = September 2019 | pmid = 30877366 | pmc = 6823321 | doi = 10.1007/s00412-019-00698-5 }}</ref> In this stage the homologous chromosomes become much more closely (~100&nbsp;nm) and stably paired (a process called synapsis) mediated by the installation of the transverse and central elements of the [[synaptonemal complex]].<ref name="Zickler-2015" /> Synapsis is thought to occur in a zipper-like fashion starting from a recombination nodule. The paired chromosomes are called bivalent or tetrad chromosomes.