Abstract
According to the results of recent studies, parental exposure to ionizing radiation not only leads to mutation induction in the germline of irradiated animals but also affects their non-exposed offspring. These radiation-induced transgenerational effects belong to an epigenetic phenomenon that could not be defined as a transmission of altered phenotypes from the irradiated parents to their non-exposed offspring. In this review, we present the results of laboratory studies aimed to evaluate the transgenerational effects of parental irradiation on a number of traits in the offspring of exposed parents. The results of animal studies showing compromised viability, fertility and genome stability among the non-exposed offspring of irradiated parents are presented and discussed. So far, the epigenetic phenomenon of radiation-induced transgenerational effects has been established in laboratory studies. Future work should address the important issue of manifestation of radiation-induced transgenerational effects in populations inhabiting radioactive-contaminated areas, as well as the mechanisms of transgenerational effects.
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Yuri E. Dubrova
Yuri E. Dubrova, DrSci, PhD, is a Professor of Genetics at the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Elena I. Sarapultseva
Elena I. Sarapultseva, DrSci, is a Professor of Radiobiology at the Department of Biotechnology, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Russian Federation and Senior Researcher of A. Tsyb Medical Radiological Research Center – Branch of the National Medical Research Radiological Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.