Table 1.

Characteristics of meiotic prophase I and metaphase I stages in wheat and the efficiency of the MeioCapture protocol

Meiotic stage	Duration in CS (hour)a	Key events	No. of meiocytes isolated per hour, per person using the MeioCapture methodb	Condition of SACs
Pre-meiotic G2	–	DNA replication and chromosome organization	500 to 700	Intact
Leptotene	10.4	Chromosome association	1000 to 1200	Intact
Zygotene	3.4	Homologue pairing and SC formation	1000 to 1200	Intact
Pachytene	2.2	Crossing over and bivalent formation	1400 to 1500	Intact
Diplotene	0.6	Dissociation of SCs	1500	Intact
Diakinesis	0.4	Nuclear membrane disintegration and end of prophase I	300 to 400	Starting to disintegrate
Metaphase I	1.6	Chromosomes line up on metaphase plate	700 to 800	Partially disintegrated

CS Chinese Spring, SC synaptonemal complex, SAC sporogenous archesporial column

^aThe duration of each meiotic stage provided is based on data from [9, 43, 44]

^b The total number of meiocytes isolated per hour varies depending on the mix of stages occurring in a spike