Study of genetic of atomic bomb radiation by using high density DNA microarray based-CGH

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We have studied the trans-generational effects of A-bomb radiation on human germ cells, that is, whether the mutation rate has increased significantly in the offspring of A-bomb survivors compared with controls at genomic DNA level. To enable genome-wide detection of de novo mutation, we have introduced DNA-microarray based comparative genomic hybridization(so-called, array CGH) method. In order to establish the experimental conditions, we conducted a pilot study in which we examined 80 offspring of atomic-bomb suivivors. The results of the pilot study revealed that the experimental conditions established by us could effectively identify one-copy decrease and increase from normal diploidy. The summary paper has been published in the Annals of Human Genetics, 79, 193-204, 2008 in this year. Moreover, we have developed the computer software to effectively process the huge amount of data created from out array system. By using this improved methodology, we had examined 225 offspring born to atomic-bomb survivors exposed more than 1 Gy. The arrays containing about 2,500 BAG(Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) -clones were used in this study. The first population screening has been completed. We have identified many putative copy-number variants. These putative variants are expected to be good recourses for examining the trans-generational effects of radiation. We will have an opportunity to assess whether the rate of mutations observed in exposed group is higher than that in those from unexposed group.