Kp. Johnson et al., Lack of demonstratable effects of pollutants on cyt b sequences in wood ducks from a contaminated nuclear reactor cooling pond, ENVIR RES, 81(2), 1999, pp. 146-150
The effects of low levels of radiation on DNA mutation rates are largely un
known for free-living vertebrates. In this study we investigated the effect
s of contamination from cooling ponds at a nuclear production facility in S
outh Carolina on the mutation rates in mitochondrial DNA in wood ducks (Aix
sponsa), Specifically, we sequenced a 433-bp portion of the cytochrome b g
ene from 18 female-offspring pairs of wood ducks from contaminated ponds an
d 2 female-offspring pairs from control ponds,Very low haplotype diversity
was observed overall, and no case of mutation between female and offspring
could be satisfactorily documented. This suggests that the levels of radioa
ctive contamination in these cooling ponds have little effect on the mutati
on rate of mitochondrial DNA in these waterfowl and that mitochondrial DNA
may not be as sensitive an indicator as previously anticipated. (C) 1999 Ac
ademic Press.