Neutron Dose Response of Tradescantia Stamen Hair Pink Mutations and RBE
Kim, Jin-Kyu;Kim, Won-Rok;
ABSTRACT
Dose response relationships for one of biological end-points (gene mutation) in somatic cells of Tradescantia 4430 clones were studied using neutrons coming out of a californium-252 isotopic source. And the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of neutrons in relation to X-rays in the induction of TSH pink mutations was assessed. Inflorescences were irradiated with X-ray from X-ray generator and neutrons from $^{252}Cf$ source. Irradiated cuttings were incubated with aeration in neutrient solution under the controlled condition. For more than 4 weeks after irradiation cell mutations were scored. Pink mutation frequencies were calculated from the pooled data for the peak interval (days 6 to 13 post-irradiation). Somatic cell mutations in TSH showed linear dose response relationships in the range of neutron doses available for the experiment. The RBE values estimated for neutrons in relation to X-rays were in the range 3.1 to 6.8, which were much lower than normally recognized value.