RBE [relative biological effectiveness] of tritium beta radiation to gamma radiation and x-rays analyzed by both molecular and genetic methods

The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of tritium beta radiation to 60Co gamma radiation was determined using sex-linked recessive lethals (SLRL) induced in Drosophila melanogaster spermatozoa as the biological effect. The SLRL test, a measure of mutations induced in germ cells transmitted through successive generations, yields a linear dose-response curve in the range used in these experiments. From these ratios of the slopes of the 3H beta and the 60 Co gamma radiation linear dose response curves, an RBE of 2.7 is observed. When sources of error are considered, this observation suggests that the tritium beta particle is 2.7 ± 0.3 times more effective per unit of energy absorbed in inducing gene mutations transmitted to successive generation than 60Co gamma radiation. Ion tracks with a high density of ions (high LET) are more efficient than tracks with a low ion density (low LET) in inducing transmissible mutations, suggesting interaction among products of ionization. Molecular analysis of x-ray induced mutations shows that most mutations are deletions ranging from a few base pairs as determined from sequence data to multi locus deletions as determined from complementation tests and Southern blots. 14 refs., 1 fig