Abstract
Although radiation has been used as the mutagen in mutation breeding, little is known about which types of mutation are induced in plant DNA. In this study, we irradiated rpsL-transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis/rpsL) with carbon ion beams and γ-rays and analyzed the mutation spectra. The both radiation induced deletion and G:C to A:T transition frequently. In the dry seeds, γ-rays induced shorter deletions than carbon ion beams do. However, the incidence of G:C to T:A and A:T to C:G transversions which result from the formation of 8-oxoguanine, a typical radiation-induced DNA damage, were quite low both in dry seeds and seedlings, contrasting with other organisms. This result suggests that the formation of 8-oxoguanine is low in Arabidopsis compared to other organisms. In an ion beam range, the region that deposits the largest energy when the ion almost stops in the irradiated sample is called Bragg peak region. We also show here the effect of carbon and helium ions around the Bragg peak region on growth and survival of Arabidopsis dry seed.
