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Exploration of biological phenomena of below-background natural radiation

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Abstract

Worldwide, humans are exposed to a mean background radiation dose of about 2.4 mSv per year. Natural background radiation is a constant and ubiquitous environmental factor affecting all living things on this planet, and organisms have evolved in the presence of the natural radiation since the first forms of life appeared on Earth. However, its role in biology is still not completely understood. Here, we summarize the interesting biological responses in organism at below-background radiation and highlight recent development of the studies with molecular based analyses. To date, deprivation of natural background radiation has been carried out with shielding chambers or by conducting experiments in underground laboratories. In recent decades some research groups have reported changes to growth-related biological endpoints in microorganisms and mammalian cells under low-background radiation conditions. Moreover, new technologies, such as DNA microarray and next-generation sequencing, have begun to shed fresh light on the molecular mechanisms of these biological phenomena. Although there is no consistent explanation for the mechanisms so far, such studies might provide clues toward an understanding of the biological responses to natural background radiation.

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Funding

This work was supported by Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research (for Scientific Research (B): 15310042 and for challenging Exploratory Research: 25550035) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Science and Radiation Research Center, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-2 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8570, Japan

    Masanobu Kawanishi & Takashi Yagi

Authors
  1. Masanobu Kawanishi
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  2. Takashi Yagi
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Correspondence to Masanobu Kawanishi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article is based on the presentation made during 18th All India Congress of Cytology and Genetics and International Symposium on “Translating Genes and Genomes” held at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata in collaboration with Archana Sharma Foundation of Calcutta during January 29–31, 2018.

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Kawanishi, M., Yagi, T. Exploration of biological phenomena of below-background natural radiation. Nucleus 62, 173–176 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13237-018-0254-7

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