MOLECULAR-CHANGES IN THE OFFSPRING OF LIQUIDATORS WHO EMIGRATED TO ISRAEL FROM THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER AREA

The primary goal of this research was to reveal de novo mutations in t he liquidators (cleanup personnel) who emigrated to Israel from the Ch ernobyl disaster area. We used genome fingerprinting simple sequence r epeat-anchored polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and rando m amplified polymorphic DNA PCR (RAPD PCR). The methodology involved a combination of RAPD PCR, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and silv er staining, with arbitrarily primed PCR. Use of microsatellite marker s appears to be the most promising technique for high sensitivity anal ysis. The analysis involved DNA isolated from the blood of experimenta l and control subjects (involving both offspring who were born before or after the disaster and their parents). Our studies have reproducibl y detected new bands that appeared in the children born after the disa ster. No such bands appeared in the children born in the same family b efore the accident or in the children of control families who had not been exposed to radiation.