CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 31 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've found a common class of freshwater invertebrates called bdelloid rotifers is extraordinarily resistant to ionizing radiation.
Harvard University researchers said the animals survive and continue to reproduce after being exposed to doses of gamma radiation much greater than can be tolerated by any other animal species studied.
Because free radicals such as those generated by radiation have been implicated in inflammation, cancer and aging in higher organisms, Harvard Professor Matthew Meselson and graduate student Eugene Gladyshev said their findings could stimulate new lines of research into these medically important problems.
The researchers found bdelloid rotifers Adineta vaga and Philodina roseola -- about a half-millimeter in size and commonly observed under microscopes -- remained reproductively viable after doses of radiation roughly five times greater than other classes of rotifers and other animals could endure.
The research, supported by the National Science Foundation's Eukaryotic Genetics Program, is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
