After studying the genomes in dogs living close to and around the Chornobyl disaster site, researchers from North Carolina State University and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health concluded that radiation-induced mutation likely did not cause genetic differences in dog populations living in Chornobyl City and the nearby Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
With these findings in the new study published in PLOS ONE, the research team hopes to better understand how a nuclear disaster may impact populations over time.
“We have been working with two dog populations that, while separated by just 16 kilometers, or about 10 miles, are genetically distinct,” said Matthew Breen, contributing author and Oscar J. Fletcher Distinguished Professor of Comparative Oncology Genetics at NC State, in a press release. “We are trying to determine if low-level exposure over many years to environmental toxins such as radiation, lead, etc., could explain some of those differences.”
