GENETIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHERNOBYL DIS ASTER FOR HOUSE MICE (MUS MUSCULUS)

Genetic disorders were studied in house mice caught from 1986 to 1993 in areas contaminated by radionuclides after the Chernobyl disaster. D ose rates on soil surface ranged from 0.02 to 200 mR/h. Frequency of r eciprocal translocations in spermatocytes of the mice studied was rela tively low, but increased with dose rate. In populations, frequency of mice heterozygous for recessive lethal mutations decreased with time after the accident. The data obtained allow us to assume that induced mutations may lead to elimination of germ cells and decreased viabilit y in mice heterozygous for the mutations. These processes result in re moving excess mutations from the population.