UV damage and photoreactivation: timing and age are everything.
Aquatic organisms, ranging from bacteria to fish, living in clear lakes are presently receiving damaging levels of UV radiation. Photoreactivation is a light-dependent mechanism by which some organisms deal with DNA damage caused by UV radiation. Yet, photoreactivation is a mechanism that confounds long-term predictive modeling of UV effects on the survival of these organisms. Here we show that a short-lived rotifer species, Asplanchna girodi, previously thought to have little to no photoreactivation, does indeed have a significant amount of it. The ability to undergo photoreactivation in A. girodi is dependent on age and becomes apparent only after several days of observation after UV exposure.
Grad
Gabriella
G
Earth and Environmental Sciences Department, Lehigh University, 31 Williams Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA. gad2@lehigh.edu
Burnett
Bethany J
BJ
Williamson
Craig E
CE
D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000528:radiation effects*; D004249:DNA Damage; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000235:genetics / Q000528:radiation effects; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
D004247:DNA