No gene mutations? Researchers discovered how radiation in the Chernobyl zone affected dogs.

For a long time after the Chernobyl disaster, scientists studied dogs to understand how they managed to survive in a radioactive environment and whether radiation caused the genetic differences observed in these animals.

This is reported by ZME. It is noted that the focus was on two populations: one lived near the nuclear power plant in Pripyat, while the other resided in the neighboring abandoned city of Chernobyl.

"We worked with two populations of dogs that, despite being separated by only 16 kilometers or about 10 miles, are genetically distinct," says Matthew Brin, a professor of comparative oncology genetics at North Carolina State University. "We are trying to determine whether low-level exposure to environmental toxins, such as radiation, lead, etc., over many years can explain some of these differences."

The researchers found that radiation was not the cause of their genetic differences.

How Radiation in the Chernobyl Zone Affected Dogs

Dogs in this area have long been exposed to radiation, heavy metals, and other mutagenic environmental pollutants. Therefore, scientists believed that these animals would exhibit a higher level of mutations. If that were the case, it would lead to clear genetic differences between the groups in the CEZ.

"First, we contextualized the level of genetic differences between the two populations of dogs, which showed that the genetics of the Chernobyl dogs were very similar to the dog populations in Russia, Poland, and nearby regions," says Megan Dillon, Ph.D., a candidate at North Carolina State University and the lead author of the study.

In other words, scientists were able to use the Chernobyl dogs as a representative control population for comparison with the nuclear power plant dogs.

"We know that, for example, the impact of high doses of radiation can lead to instability starting at the chromosomal level. Although this population of dogs is 30 or more generations removed from the population present during the 1986 disaster, mutations would likely have been detectable if they favored survival over those original dogs, but we found no such evidence in these dogs," explains Dillon.

However, the study did not find evidence of an increased mutation rate in either population. Despite the proximity of the power plant population to higher levels of pollution, their genomic profiles did not show significant differences in mutation accumulation compared to the dogs from Chernobyl. In other words, the cause was not radiation exposure.

What Does This Mean?

Analyzing the results, scientists are left wondering what exactly influences long-term genetic mutations if it is not the consequences of chronic radiation exposure. Studies on other animal species have shown conflicting and ambiguous results, while the findings with dogs provided certain clarity. However, this does not necessarily mean that radiation has no effect on dogs.

"It is quite possible that the dogs that survived long enough to reproduce already had genetic traits that increased their chances of survival. So, perhaps there was initially extreme selective pressure, and then the dogs at the power plant simply remained separate from the urban population," says Dillon.

He notes that the Chernobyl dogs serve as a valuable model for understanding the effects of radiation on mammals. This helps to comprehend how radiation will impact human populations in the long term.

Previously, "Telegraph" reported on when to observe the "date" of fiery Venus and icy Saturn. Soon there will be a unique parade of planets above Earth.