![]() ![]() With more than 400 DNA samples now collected, the researchers can begin to interrogate how DNA variation in these Chernobyl populations might help the dogs live in a highly radioactive environment. That's exactly what the Chernobyl dog team plans to do. By looking at a whole genome - all of an organism's DNA - rather than just SNPs, researchers can tease out more information, discovering mutations in genes that may have physiological effects. "To tell if there were de novo radiation-caused mutations, the researchers would have needed to conduct whole genome sequencing of the dogs and see if there were any unique variants in this population," said Claire Wade, an animal geneticist and computational biologist at the University of Sydney not associated with the study.Ī de novo mutation is one that wasn't passed down genetically. Inbreeding and isolation can cause the kind of changes the team has seen in the DNA. Importantly, the study doesn't show that radiation in the disaster zone has, itself, caused changes or mutations in the dogs' DNA. "This sets the stage for future studies aimed at finding mutations in key genes that result from the radioactive environment," said Ostrander. This group differed, genetically, from dogs living just 10 miles away, in Chernobyl city, which appear to have migrated more and bred with local dogs. Comparing Chernobyl's dogs to pure-bred canines from elsewhere in Europe, the team revealed that one group of canines living close to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, occupying Pripyat and the nearby train station, is a genetically distinct and closed family. "They offer a chance to see how the harsh environment, which includes exposure to high and low levels of radiation, can affect the DNA of animals who have lived and bred for 15 generations in this region," said Elaine Ostrander, a geneticist at the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health and author on the study.īy studying tiny changes in the DNA known as SNPs, the team were able to measure genetic similarity in these populations. ![]() It's the first time a large mammal in the CEZ has been studied in this way. In a new study, published in the journal Science Advances on March 3, researchers set out to decode the genetics of the canine population around Chernobyl, characterizing the genes of 302 free-roaming dogs that now call the power plant and surrounding region home. By studying the DNA of these dogs, researchers could better understand how chronic exposure to radiation leaves long-lasting effects on physiology and health. This unfortunate fate for the canines has a somewhat grim silver lining. The radioactive atoms - radionuclides - released in the 10 days after the catastrophe still permeate the soil, the water and, yes, the animals that have made the CEZ their home, including Chernobyl's dogs. Today, Chernobyl's doomed reactor is entombed within a massive concrete structure known as the sarcophagus, but the effects of its meltdown linger. The liquidators would often feed and house the now-strays, and the populations persevered. A directive by the Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs tasked military personnel with hunting down and executing the pets, including the many dogs of the region inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.īut some of the pets evaded capture and killing, making a home in the CEZ. Pets were not permitted to travel with the evacuees and had to be abandoned. In the hours following the meltdown, residents of nearby neighborhoods were forced to up and leave with little notice while the liquidators - military personnel and other civilians - moved in to "clean up" the radioactive mess. In the area surrounding the power plant, an ecological disaster began to unfold. An assault of radioactive atoms burst forth from the wreckage and dispersed across Europe, even reaching as far as North America. In 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine suffered a catastrophic meltdown. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |