A student observes a meiotic cell where the nucleolus has disappeared and the nuclear envelope has completely broken down. This stage is immediately preceded by a specific phase of Prophase-I. Which of the following events is the primary characteristic of this preceding phase?

Step-by-step solution

The disappearance of the nucleolus and the breakdown of the nuclear envelope mark the end of diakinesis, the final stage of Prophase-I. The stage that immediately precedes diakinesis is diplotene. The primary characteristic of the diplotene stage is the dissolution of the synaptonemal complex and the tendency of the recombined homologous chromosomes of the bivalents to separate from each other except at the sites of crossovers, forming X-shaped structures called chiasmata. Terminalisation of chiasmata occurs in dia