What happens in prophase I of meiosis?

Step-by-step solution

In the first meiotic division the homologous chromosomes pair to form bivalents, and undergo crossing over . Meiosis I has a long prophase, which is divided further into five phases. These are leptotene, zygotene, pachytene, diplotene and diakinesis. During metaphase I the bivalents arrange on the equatorial plate. This is followed by anaphase I in which homologous chromosomes move to the opposite poles with both their chromatids. Each pole receives half the chromosome number of the parent cell. In telophase I, the