= Pachytene
<Pachytene> is a stage of the first meiotic <prophase> in which paired <homologous chromosomes> are closely associated through the <synaptonemal complex>. Each replicated pair contains four <chromatids>: two sister <chromatids> from each <homologous chromosome>. Pairing therefore does not reduce four <chromatids> to two.
<Pachytene> is also an experimentally distinguishable state, rather than merely a point on a clock. In <budding yeast>, <NDT80 gene> <mutants> arrested with full-length <synaptonemal complexes> even though much <genetic recombination> proceeded. Comparing <chromosome> structure, <DNA> exchange and later division showed that these events can be experimentally separated.<NDT80, a meiosis-specific gene required for exit from pachytene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by L. Xu and others>[Abstract; pachytene arrest and relatively normal recombination]{ref}
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