SGER: Mutation Rates and Fitness in the Barn Swallows of Chernobyl

SGER：切尔诺贝利家燕的突变率和适应性

• 批准号: 0226153
• 负责人: Timothy Mousseau
• 金额: $ 3.28万
• 依托单位: University South Carolina Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-06-15 至 2004-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0226153&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Mutation; Rates; Fitness; Barn

0226153MousseauThe explosion and subsequent nuclear fire ar the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986 led to one of the largest scale human-induced ecological disasters ever. Vast amounts of highly radioactive materials, estimated to be in the range of 50-200 million curies, were spread widely across the Eastern European landscape, and the northern lands of Ukraine will remain contaminated for tens of thousands of years to come.The regions surrounding the power plant were heavily contaminated by radioactive fallout. A considerable increase has been reported in thyroid cancer, childhood leukemia, chromosomal aberrations, and the frequency of congenital malformations and microsatellite instability in human populations around Chernobyl and Belarus.In collaboration with scientists at the French Centre National de Researche Scientifique (CNRS), The University of Extramadura in Badajoz, Spain, and the National Museum of Natural History in Kiev, Ukraine, we will investigate the effect of radioactive contaminants on a common bird species of Europe, the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica. We will compare morphological asymmetry, immunological assays, visible mutations (e.g., albinism), and mutations in microsatellite DNA and in the p53 genes (a gene often associated with cancers in human), as well as measure rates of offspring survival to fledging, in swallows living in the fallout area vs. in swallows living in uncontaminated areas. Because barn swallows most often occur in association with human habitation, this species is accessible for scientific study and can also serve as a model for studying the potential long-term effects of radioactive contamination on wildlife and human populations.

1986年切尔诺贝利核反应堆的爆炸和随后的核火灾导致了有史以来最大规模的人为生态灾难之一。大量的高放射性物质，估计在5 000万至2亿居里之间，广泛分布在东欧各地，乌克兰北方土地将在未来数万年内继续受到污染。发电厂周围地区受到放射性沉降物的严重污染。据报道，切尔诺贝利和白俄罗斯周围人群中甲状腺癌、儿童白血病、染色体畸变、先天畸形和微卫星不稳定性的发生率大幅增加，与法国国家科学研究中心、西班牙巴达霍斯的Extramadura大学和乌克兰基辅的国家自然历史博物馆的科学家合作，我们将研究放射性污染物对欧洲常见鸟类家燕（Hirundo rustica）的影响。我们将比较形态不对称性，免疫学测定，可见突变（例如，白化病），以及微卫星DNA和p53基因（一种通常与人类癌症有关的基因）的突变，以及测量生活在沉降物地区的燕子与生活在未受污染地区的燕子的后代存活率。由于家燕最常出现在人类居住地，因此该物种可用于科学研究，也可作为研究放射性污染对野生动物和人类的潜在长期影响的模型。