(ORDO NEWS) — Radioactive radiation is invisible, but it can quite noticeably harm a person and even lead to death. Does our body have a way to protect itself from it?
Today we don’t have a “radiation vaccine”, but scientists have already found mutations that allow bacteria to protect themselves from radiation. Perhaps in the future we will have such an ability.
In the event of a nuclear accident or explosion, people can be exposed to ionizing radiation, which causes radiation sickness and can lead to cancer and heart disease in the future.
Complicating the situation is that there is no good therapy for radiation sickness, and doctors can only deal with the symptoms. Therefore, the question arises: are there people whose body is not so susceptible to radiation?
In one 2014 study, a team of scientists developed a strain of bacteria that could repair radiation damage on its own. Even though bacteria and the human body are radically different, this discovery could help create “radiation immunity.”
Bacteria develop immunity to radiation
One of the ways radiation causes disease is through damage to our DNA. The authors of the study wanted to see if they could modify the common bacterium E. coli to make it more resistant to radiation damage.
So they took E. coli and irradiated it until 99 percent of the microorganisms were dead. A new generation was brought out of the survivors, which was then propagated and carried out a similar procedure.
After 20 rounds, the scientists noticed that the bacteria were able to repair radiation damage after receiving a dose four times greater than their ancestors could withstand.
The authors also analyzed 69 known mutations that allowed these E. coli to recover so well after intense radiation bombardment.
Further study of these mutations may allow the development of a genetic therapy that can also protect human tissues from radiation damage.
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