title: Mutation rates in scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) from the Chernobyl exclusion zone evaluated with amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLPs) and microsatellite markers.
abstract: Ionizing radiation is a strong mutagenic factor and, accordingly, elevated mutation rates would be expected in plants exposed to high chronic or acute radiation after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Somatic mutations were analyzed in pines (Pinus sylvestris L.) planted before and after the Chernobyl accident and in control material of the same origin planted in sites with natural radiation. Microsatellites (SSRs) and amplified fragment-length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were investigated. The mutation rates for microsatellites were estimated as 2.8 × 10(-4)-7.1 × 10(-4) per locus for different irradiated tree populations; no mutations were detected in the controls. In the case of AFLPs, the observed mutation rates were 3.74 × 10(-3) -3.99 × 10(-3) and 1.06 × 10(-3) per locus for contaminated and control areas, respectively. Thus a statistically highly significant three-fold increase in number of mutations was found by the use of AFLP markers, indicating that ionizing radiation causes strong DNA damage across the entire genome and that AFLPs may be the appropriate marker system for this kind of analysis.
authors.affiliation: Forest Genetics and Forest Tree Breeding, Büsgen Institute, Georg-August University Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, Göttingen, 37077, Germany.
authors.forename: Oleksandra
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kuchma
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vornam
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Finkeldey
mesh_terms: D054458:Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000528:radiation effects*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D009154:Mutation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D041605:Pinus sylvestris / Q000235:genetics* / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant