Article #7: How Plants Survived Chernobyl

What happened on April 1986 was one of the world’s worst nuclear power plant explosions that killed and cause deformation to many plants and animals, although some plants survived the blast and the nuclear waste that killed many. The explosion took place at the Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine after a reactor exploded sending clouds of radioactive material into the atmosphere and tens to hundreds kilometers in diameter. Some radioactive material still persists today in the air such as Cesium 137 that has a long half-life, therefore the area is off limits to humans. Today is no life existence except for trees, bushes and some soybeans that have altered protein.

Scientists wanted to see how these soybeans survived the nuclear explosion so they began an experiment to plant soybean 30 kilometer inside the restricted zone. They planted another batch 100 kilometers from the power plant where cesium-137 were at lower concentration. They waited a few months until the plants would grow and analyzed the protein. They found that the soybean grown within the radiation zone weighed half as much and took up water slower than the regular soybeans that were 100 kilometers from the power plant. However, soybeans from the higher radiation area had three times more cysteine synthase, a protein that protects plants from binding to metals. They also had 32% more betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase, a compound found to reduce chromosomal abnormalities in human blood exposed to radiation (Pappas 2009).

This experiment showed that the soybeans that survived the nuclear explosion consist of proteins that protect them from harsh environmental conditions. This is important because it helps us understand how plants respond to radiation and is a useful tool for engineers for developing radiation-resistant crops.

Citation Information
Pappas, Stephanie. 2009 “How Plants Survived Chernobyl" ScienceNOW Daily News[Internet] Washington DC and Cambridge, UK: High Wire Press; 2009 [cited 2009 May 25]. Available from http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/515/2