Effects of chronic exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation on Chlorella vulgaris

Mikša, Lukáš

Ionizing radiation is one of the fundamental abiotic stress factors that is constantly interacting with life on our planet. The topic of the effects of high to extremely high doses of ionizing radiation on living organisms, in general, is quite well studied but little is known about the impact of low dose ionizing radiation on living organisms, especially when it comes to microalgae, which are not just a crucial part of aquatic ecosystems on our planet but also nowadays they serve as a promising crop of the future that can play a vital role in space agriculture, where radiation background is significantly higher than the average radiation background on Earth. A series of experiments were conducted to study the long-term effects of elevated natural ionizing radiation using compartmented growing containers containing radioactive minerals emitting predominantly low-LET radiation (β and γ). The goal was to evaluate the long-term effect on the microalgae cultures after 4 weeks of cultivation under constant irradiation. The chronic irradiation induced radiation adaptive response resembling radiation hormesis. The irradiated microalgae displayed higher viability and biomass accumulation than the control group. Additionally, it was observed that proline levels significantly decreased after 14 days of irradiation, while the flavonoid content increased.

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