Abstract
Turtles inhabiting a radioactive reservoir appear to experience genetic damage due to environmental exposure to low concentrations of long-lived radionuclides. Total body burdens for the 50 reservoir turtles examined in the survey ranged from 164.7-4679.3 Bq for cesium-137 and from 462.6-5098.3 Bq for strontium-90. Flow cytometric (FCM) assays of red blood cell nuclei demonstrated significantly greater variation in DNA content for the reservoir turtles than for turtles from a nearby, non-radioactive site. Furthermore, two of the reservoir turtles possessed FCM profiles that are indicative of aneuploid mosaicism. These data strongly suggest that exposure to low-level radiation may involve a sensitive genetic response in a natural population.
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Lamb, T., Bickham, J.W., Gibbons, J.W. et al. Genetic damage in a population of slider turtles (Trachemys scripta) inhabiting a radioactive reservoir. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 20, 138–142 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065340
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065340