Neuronal DNA repair mediates systemic mitochondrial maintenance through acetylcholine signaling.

Neuronal nucleotide excision repair in Caenorhabditis elegans is sufficient to provide overall DNA damage resistance comparable to whole-body NER across almost all tissues tested.

• Why it matters: It is unclear whether DNA repair confined to one tissue can produce non-cell-autonomous benefits for other tissues that also experience DNA damage.
• What they did: The study restricted NER activity to specific tissues in Caenorhabditis elegans and assessed organismal DNA damage resistance, then tested whether neuronal acetylcholine signaling mediates mitochondrial maintenance.
• The result: Neuronal acetylcholine signaling promotes mitochondrial activity maintenance throughout the organism, linking tissue-restricted NER to systemic resilience against DNA damage.