Radioactivity warning sign in Pripyat, a city close to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Ukraine
Chernobyl’s canine communities are offering scientists a unique look at how life adapts in one of Earth’s harshest environments.
Despite Chernobyl Being a truly inhospitable place since the biggest nuclear accident in history, the animal world has allowed researchers to draw curious conclusions.
Wildlife suffered from high levels of radiation, which caused several genetic mutations, problems with reproduction and a sharp decline in populations, but over time, and with the absence of humans in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, nature has recovered.
According to , a new study focused on studying two canine communities that researchers say offer a glimpse into how life can adapt. Norman Kleiman even highlighted that, “somehow, two small populations of dogs managed to survive in that highly toxic environment“.
One group lives near the old Chernobyl reactors and the other lives about 10 miles away in the city of Chernobyl, meaning these two populations rarely interbreed.
“In addition to classifying the population dynamics of these dogs in both locations, we took the first steps to understand how chronic exposure to multiple environmental risks may have affected these populations,” highlighted the researcher.
The team then analyzed the animals’ DNA and identified 391 anomalous regions in their genomes that differed between the two groups. According to Matthew Breen, from NC State, “these regions are like markers, or signs, on a highway”, in that they “identify areas within the genome where we should look more closely at nearby genes”.
“Some of these markers are pointing to genes associated with genetic repair; specifically, genetic repair after exposures similar to those suffered by dogs in Chernobyl”, he explained. “At this stage, we cannot say with certainty that any genetic changes are a response to multigenerational and complex exposures, we have much more work to do to determine if this is the case.”
Megan Dillion, a doctoral candidate and one of the study’s lead authors, said “the question we have to answer now is why are there genetic differences notable differences between the two dog populations.”
This research gains relevance as dogs are a model species that have a lot to teach about human health.
“By determining whether or not the genetic changes we detected in these dogs are the canine genome’s response to the exposures the populations have faced, we will be able to understand How dogs survived in such a hostile environment and what this could mean for any population – animal or human – that suffers similar exposures”, summarized the researcher.
The team’s goal is to continue this research in the hope that their discoveries open new paths of knowledge about genetic adaptation in extreme environments.
It can be consulted at Canine Medicine and Genetics.
