2024-03-12 10:53:58
The exclusion zone around Chernobyl is not only the site of the largest nuclear disaster to date, but also a field of investigation for scientists.
They are tiny, inconspicuous and live in one of the most radioactive zones in the world: roundworms – also called nematodes – which even exist around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Researchers entered the restricted area as part of a study to collect hundreds of the small worms from the soil. They examined the nematodes’ DNA for radiation levels and compared them with those from other regions such as the Philippines, Germany, the USA, Mauritius and Australia.
Study: Nematodes are resistant to radiation
The levels fluctuated between low values, such as those found in large cities, and high values, which can be found in space. But the amazing thing is that no signs of DNA damage were found in any of the Chernobyl samples examined, even though the nematodes lived in a highly radioactive area. The researchers assumed that damage to the genomes of organisms living in such a dangerous place could also be detected.
The fact that this was not the case with the nematodes does not mean that the exclusion zone in Chernobyl is safe from radiation technology, according to the scientists. But how did the worms manage to protect their DNA from radiation damage? Could they develop some kind of immunity to radioactivity?
Chernobyl nuclear disaster
The area has been highly radioactive since the explosion of a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986. People have left, but many plants and animals remain and have adapted to life in this region. The effects of the radiation catastrophe on them are now being researched.
Worms repaired their own DNA
The researchers suspect that the rapidly reproducing worms were able to repair damage to their DNA themselves and thus cleverly adapt to the surrounding conditions. “These worms live everywhere and live quickly, so they go through dozens of generations of evolution before a typical vertebrate reaches sexual maturity,” said Matthew Rockman, a professor of biology at New York University and senior author of the study.
Of course, the results cannot be directly transferred to humans. Nevertheless, they could provide clues about how DNA repair can vary from person to person and could therefore be relevant for cancer research. According to researchers, understanding the mechanisms behind this in more detail could help to determine risk factors for cancer more precisely.
There is still no clear scientific explanation as to why some people develop cancer while others with similar genetic predispositions do not.