ABSTRACT
Meiotic prophase I is the key stage of meiosis and includes several sequential sub-stages connected with synaptonemal complex (SC), which is the skeletal structure of meiotic bivalents. Methods for obtaining total preparations of SCs were developed for mammals, widely used for reptiles, and also adapted for other groups, such as fishes, insects, plants, and fungi, with some modifications. Immuno-FISH is a method combining immunocytochemistry (ICC) with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The main difference of FISH on preparations of SC spreads is significantly less DNA compaction compared to metaphase mitotic chromosomes; therefore, the expected FISH-signal intensity is lower. In general, the immuno-FISH method on preparations of meiotic chromosomes is promising for working with a variety of biological objects due to the availability of antibodies with a wide range of immune homology, as well as due to the accumulation and analysis of genomic data.
