Technical Report No. 10-87
Search for mutations altering protein charge and/or function in children of atomic bomb survivors: Final report
Neel JV, Satoh C, Goriki K, Asakawa J, Fujita M, Takahashi N, Kageoka T, Hazama REditor’s note: A publication based on this report was published in Am J Hum Genet 42:663-76, 1988.
Summary
A sample of children whose parents were proximally exposed at the time of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (i.e., within 2,000 m of the hypocenter) and a suitable comparison group have been examined for the occurrence of mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility or activity of a series of 30 proteins. The examination of the equivalent of 667,404 locus products in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded three mutations altering electrophoretic mobility; the corresponding figure for the comparison group was three mutations in 466,881 tests. The examination of a subset of 60,529 locus products for loss of enzyme activity in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded one mutation; no mutations were encountered in 61,741 determinations on the children of the comparison group. Combining these two series, the mutation rate observed in the children of proximally exposed is thus 0.60 x 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% confidence intervals between 0.2 and 1.5 x 10-5, and in the comparison children, 0.64 x 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% intervals between 0.1 and 1.9 x 10-5. The average conjoint gonad doses of the proximally exposed parents are estimated to be 0.437 Gy of gamma radiation and 0.002 Gy of neutron radiation. Assigning a relative biological effectiveness of 20 to the neutron radiation, the combined total gonad dose of the parents becomes 0.447 Sv.
A sample of children whose parents were proximally exposed at the time of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (i.e., within 2,000 m of the hypocenter) and a suitable comparison group have been examined for the occurrence of mutations altering the electrophoretic mobility or activity of a series of 30 proteins. The examination of the equivalent of 667,404 locus products in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded three mutations altering electrophoretic mobility; the corresponding figure for the comparison group was three mutations in 466,881 tests. The examination of a subset of 60,529 locus products for loss of enzyme activity in the children of proximally exposed persons yielded one mutation; no mutations were encountered in 61,741 determinations on the children of the comparison group. Combining these two series, the mutation rate observed in the children of proximally exposed is thus 0.60 x 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% confidence intervals between 0.2 and 1.5 x 10-5, and in the comparison children, 0.64 x 10-5/locus/generation, with 95% intervals between 0.1 and 1.9 x 10-5. The average conjoint gonad doses of the proximally exposed parents are estimated to be 0.437 Gy of gamma radiation and 0.002 Gy of neutron radiation. Assigning a relative biological effectiveness of 20 to the neutron radiation, the combined total gonad dose of the parents becomes 0.447 Sv.