The offspring of irradiated parents, are they stable? [An article from: Mutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis

This digital document is a journal article from Mutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Abstract:
Mutation induction in directly exposed cells is currently regarded as the main component of the genetic risk of ionising radiation for humans. However, recent studies showing that exposure to ionising radiation results in elevated mutation rates detectable in the non-irradiated progeny of exposed cells challenge the existing paradigm in radiation biology. This review describes some recent data on radiation-induced genomic instability in vitro and mainly focuses on the in vivo phenomenon of transgenerational instability, where elevated mutation rates are detected in the non-exposed offspring of irradiated parents. The possible mechanisms and implications of transgenerational instability are also discussed.