Fig. 2.

Sperm depletion promotes GSC quiescence by blocking oocyte maturation and causing oocyte accumulation. (A) Oocyte maturation arrest promotes GSC quiescence downstream of MSP signalling. GSC MI was evaluated at A1 in unmated or mated animals of the indicated genotypes. *P<0.05 (ANOVA with Holm multiple comparisons) amongst unmated samples, versus unmated wild type. ns, not significant. The P value is from a pairwise two-tailed t-test comparison versus unmated wild type. n=15-25. (B) goa-1 and daf-18 mutants lay significantly more unfertilized oocytes after sperm depletion. Animals were grown at 15°C until the mid-L4 stage, upshifted to 25°C for 3 days, after which they were singled on a new plate for 15 h at 25°C. The number of fertilized eggs and unfertilized oocytes found on the plate after that 15-h period was recorded. *P<0.05 (ANOVA with Holm pairwise comparisons to control). ns, not significant. n=19-20 animals. (C) The GSC MI remains elevated in unmated, sperm-depleted, A4 goa-1(n1134) hermaphrodites, as in continually mated wild-type animals. Colour-coded asterisks indicate statistical significance (P<0.05; ANOVA with Holm multiple comparisons) among A1 or A4 samples. ns, not significant. Colour-coded P values (vs younger same-genotype) from pairwise two-tailed t-test comparisons are also shown. n=15-25. (D) Oocyte accumulation levels of unmated or mated A1 animals of the indicated genotypes. Animals having endomitotic oocytes in the proximal gonad arm were excluded from this analysis. *P<0.05 (ANOVA with Holm pairwise comparisons to control). ns, not significant. P values from pairwise two-tailed t-test comparisons versus mated animals of the same genotype are shown. n=16-26. (A-D) Alleles: fog-1(q785), fog-2(oz40), spe-42(tn1231), goa-1(n1134), acy-4(ok1806), oma-1(zu405te33), oma-2(te51), daf-18(nr2037). (A,C) Dots mark averages, boxes and brackets represent the whole sample, divided into quartiles. (B,D) Error bars represent s.d.