Somatic mutational transients: models of response to acute and distributed doses of radiation applied to growing plants.
After limited exposures of whole plants to gamma radiation, the induced-mutation frequency, measured in somatic tissue of successively blooming flowers, is a transient function of time. Quantitative interpretation of the data is aided by construction of a cell-generation model. Seven theoretical models are designed to represent interaction between the cell-generation model and seven different modes of application of the radiation treatment. The models provide a structure for integration of the mutational contributions from different floral primordia. These different contributions are distributed over the array of mature flowers by the quantitative relationships of each model. A mathematical expression for the average response of a model can be equated to the average observed response and solved for the implied mutation rate per cell per roentgen.
Orchard Park Laboratories, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, Orchard Park, New York 14127.
S A
SA
Sand