Biological Response of Tradescantia Stamen-hairs to High Levels of Natural Radiation in the Poços de Caldas Plateau

• Autor(a) principal: Gomes,Heliana de Azevedo
• Data de Publicação: 2002
• Outros Autores: Nouailhetas,Yannick, Silva,Nivaldo Carlos da, Mezrahi,Arnaldo, Almeida,Carlos E. Bonacossa de, Rodrigues,Geraldo Stachetti
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132002000300008
• topic: Mutagenesis; natural radiation; bioassay; Tradescantia

The objective of the present study was to apply a highly sensitive botanical test of mutagenicity (the Tradescantia stamen-hair mutation bioassay) to assess in situ the biological responses induced by naturally occurring radiation in the Poços de Caldas Plateau. The mutagenesis was evaluated in environments presenting gamma radiation exposure rates ranging from 1.5 muR.min-1 up to 100.0 muR.min-1. The results consistently showed only borderline increases in mutation frequencies in plants exposed to areas with high radiation background, as compared to non-exposed plants. It was concluded that the levels of natural radiation prevalent in the Poços de Caldas Plateau were not sufficient to induce significant increases in mutation rate, even in the extremely sensitive Tradescantia stamen hair mutation bioassay and mutagenesis evaluation test could be a useful monitoring system for natural radiation exposure.