the first stage of the prophase of meiosis during which the nuclear material becomes resolved into slender single-stranded chromosomes
Word origin
C20: from lepto- + -tene, from Greek tainia band, filament
Examples of 'leptotene' in a sentence
leptotene
These findings suggested that the meiocytes received the signal to enter meiosis but lacked the signal to proceed beyond leptotene.
Andréa Beatriz Mendes-Bonato, Maria Suely Pagliarini, Cacilda Borges do Valle 2007, 'Meiotic arrest compromises pollen fertility in an interspecific hybrid between Brachiariaruziziensis x Brachiaria decumbens (Poaceae: paniceae)', Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technologyhttp://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132007000500011. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)