Reversal of Female Infertility by Chk2 Ablation Reveals the Oocyte DNA Damage Checkpoint Pathway

Eggs Well Done Germ cells can endure extensive DNA damage during their development. Programmed meiotic double-strand breaks (DSBs) are essential for proper segregation of chromosomes to oocytes and sperm. However, incomplete DSB repair by recombination activates a checkpoint that triggers cell death. Exogenous DNA damage is also lethal to oocytes via a highly sensitive checkpoint. Bolcun-Filas et al. (p. 533 ) show that the CHK2 kinase is a key component of both checkpoints in mouse oocytes. Deletion of Chk2 restored fertility to females that would otherwise be sterile because of a meiotic recombination mutation or radiation exposure.