Animals exhibit variations from control animals in the organization of the germ cell nuclei in the pachytene stage region of the gonad. In C. elegans the pachytene region begins just proximal to the germline's transition zone, where germ cells coordinately switch into the leptotene/zygotene stage from the premeiosis stage (WormAtlas).
Animals exhibit variations in the increase in size of compartments of the germline. In the C. elegans germline, syncytial compartments enlarge just prior to and coincident with the loop region, eventually abscising, to become fully enclosed germ cells (oocytes).
Any variation in the form, structure or composition of the nucleus-free core of germ line cytoplasm in the gonad compared to control animals. In the C. elegans germline, nuclei exiting mitosis and entering meiosis are arranged along the cortex of the germline, partially enclosed by cellular membrane, forming a nucleus-free core of germline cytoplasm, called the rachis.
Animals exhibit variations from control animals in the organization of the germ cell nuclei in the gonad that are in the diplotene stage. In C. elegans the diplotene region follows the pachytene region and occurs just distal to, and coincident with, the loop in the gonad arm. In the diplotene region germ cell compartments become organized into a single file.
The diplotene stage is not observed in developing oocytes. Diplotene is a cell cycle process comprising the steps by which a cell progresses through the fourth stage of prophase I in meiosis, in which the homologous chromosomes begin to separate and the synaptonemal complex dissolves.