Analysis of DNA strand breaks induced by carbon ion beams in

Teranishi, Mika*; Yamaguchi, Hiroko*; Sakamoto, Ayako; Hidema, Jun*

Ion beams induce DNA damage, such as strand breaks, possibly resulting in an increased mutation frequency. To elucidate the mechanism of mutation induction in plants, it is important to know about which DNA damage converted into a mutation. In this study, we examined the method for determining the number of DNA strand breaks induced by carbon ion beams in Arabidopsis seedlings. Seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana (wild-type Colombia) were aseptically sown on Murashige and Skoog agar plates. The seedlings were irradiated with carbon ion beams from an AVF cyclotron. After irradiation, whole plants were harvested immediately in order to detect the induced DNA strand breaks. The number of DNA strand breaks increased with increasing dose of carbon ion beams. Irradiation of seedlings with 960 Gy of carbon ion beams resulted in up to 2.3 strand breaks per megabase (Mb). In this study, only DNA double strand breaks can be detected using the non-denatured agarose gel electrophoresis. To elucidate the mechanism of mutation induction in plants, measurement of the extent of DNA damage other than DNA strand breaks should be needed. Further analysis is in progress.