DNA damage signals from somatic uterine tissue arrest oogenesis through activated FOXO/DAF-16

Germ line integrity is critical for progeny fitness. Organisms deploy the DNA damage response (DDR) signaling to protect the germ line from genotoxic stress, facilitating the cell-cycle arrest of germ cells and DNA repair or their apoptosis. Cell-autonomous regulation of germ line quality in response to DNA damage is well-studied; however, how quality is enforced cell non-autonomously on sensing somatic D NA damage is less known. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that DDR disruption, only in the uterus, when insulin-IGF-1 signaling (IIS) is low, arrests oogenesis in the pachytene stage of meiosis I, in a FOXO/DAF-16 transcription factor (TF)-dependent manner. Without FOXO/DAF-16, germ cells of the IIS mutant escape the arrest to produce poor-quality oocytes, showing that the TF imposes strict quality control during low IIS. Activated FOXO/DAF-16 senses DDR perturbations during low IIS to lower ERK/MPK-1 signaling below a threshold to promote germ line arrest. Altogether, we elucidate a new surveillance role of activated FOXO/DAF-16 that ensures optimal germ cell quality and progeny fitness in response to somatic DNA damage.