A mechanism for inheriting radiation-induced DNA damage

Cutler, Ronald; Vijg, Jan

doi:10.1038/d41586-022-04449-y

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21 December 2022

A mechanism for inheriting radiation-induced DNA damage

Radiation-damaged paternal DNA has been found to cause embryos of the second generation of nematode worms, but not the first, to die. The proposed mechanisms help to explain the observed lack of such an effect in humans.

Ronald Cutler
1. Ronald Cutler is in the Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
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Jan Vijg
1. Jan Vijg is in the Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
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Exposure to radiation causes DNA damage that predisposes individuals to mutations and cancer¹. However, whether this damage, or its effects acquired in adulthood, can be passed on to future generations has remained controversial. There is a lack of evidence in humans for transgenerational effects of radiation from the atomic bombs at the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945², or from the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine³. Writing in Nature, Wang et al.⁴ show that exposing male nematode worms (Caenorhabditis elegans), but not females, to ionizing radiation results in the death of embryos produced by subsequent generations. The proposed mechanism for these transgenerational effects might explain why similar outcomes are not seen in humans exposed to radiation.

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Nature 613, 249-250 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04449-y

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