Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society Scientists are reporting discovery of the biological
secrets that enable plants growing near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
to adapt and flourish in highly radioactive soil — legacy of the 1986 nuclear
disaster in the Ukraine. Their study, which helps solve a long-standing
mystery, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology,
a semi-monthly journal.
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The scientists grew flax seeds in radiation-contaminated soil in the Chernobyl region and compared their growth to those of seeds grown in non-radioactive soil. Radiation exposure had relatively little effect on the protein levels in the plants, with only about five percent of the proteins altered, they note. Among them weree certain proteins involved in cell signaling, or chemical communication, which might help the plants shrug-off radioactivity, the scientists suggest. ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Proteomics Analysis of Flax Grown in Chernobyl Area Suggests Limited Effect of Contaminated Environment on Seed Proteome", DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://pubs.acs.org/ CONTACT: Martin Hajduch, Ph.D. Institute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava, Slovakia Phone: 421-37-7336659 Fax: 421-37-7336660 Email: hajduch@savba.sk |