Washington [US], March 9: An American research team recently discovered a species of worm living near the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) that appears to be immune to the harmful effects of chronic radiation from the nuclear power plant explosion in 1986. This is a no-worm zone. person approached, The Independent reported on March 8.
Biology professor Matthew Rockman of New York University (USA) and colleague Sophia Tintori went to CEZ in 2019 and collected samples of a roundworm called Oscheius tipulae. Researchers took worms from soil samples, rotting fruit and other materials and tested local radiation levels.
"These worms live everywhere and have a very short life cycle, so they have gone through dozens of generations of evolution," Mr. Rockman said in a press release this week.
Mr. Rockman and his colleagues sequenced the genomes of 15 worm species they collected from Chernobyl and compared them with five strains of nematodes elsewhere. They said researchers "could not detect signs of radiation damage" deep in Chernobyl.
Although cautious not to draw hasty conclusions, scientists Tintori and Rockman expressed hope that this research could be useful in treating cancer. Their research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (PNAS).
Dr Tintor told The Daily Mail : "Chernobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still do not fully understand the impact of the disaster on local people.
"Does sudden environmental change select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation?" Ms. Tintor asked.
Dr Tintori revealed that this exciting discovery does not mean Chernobyl is safe, but it does show that worms are resilient animals, able to withstand harsh conditions.
One of the four reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April 1986, releasing 400 times more radiation than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima City (Japan) during World War II.
Since then, 100,000 people have been evacuated from the nearby city of Pripyat. The entire area, about 100 kilometers north of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, is considered unsafe for human habitation.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
