title: Drosophila melanogaster show a threshold effect in response to radiation.
abstract: We investigate the biological effects of radiation using adult Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism, focusing on gene expression and lifespan analysis to determine the effect of different radiation doses. Our results support a threshold effect in response to radiation: no effect on lifespan and no permanent effect on gene expression is seen at incident radiation levels below 100 J/kg. We also find that it is more appropriate to compare radiation effects in flies using the absorbed energy rather than incident radiation levels.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University;
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antosh
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University;
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University;
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasselbacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Brown University.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lanou
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University; ; Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Neretti
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain and Neural Systems, Brown University; ; Department of Physics, Brown University.
authors.forename: Leon N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Cooper
keywords: Drosophila melanogaster; gene expression; low dose radiation; threshold effect