Radioactive contamination in Chernobyl and (epi)genetic stability of plants – A review

Abstract

Rapid industrial and agricultural development brought, besides the indisputable advances, also risks related to the environmental pollution. Widespread soil deterioration represents a global problem. Chernobyl area contaminated by radionuclides after nuclear accident in 1986 provides the opportunity to analyze in situ the impact of radiation on plant systems. Unlike animals and humans, plants are not able to move to another place with better living conditions. Therefore, plants are an ideal object to study adaptation to the conditions of environmental stress. Long-term exposure to the ionizing radiation causes widespread changes in plant genome and epigenome. Also, these alterations may result in changed phenotype. In particular, this review discusses the effect of ionizing radiation on genetic and epigenetic stability of plant genome.