Worms that live in Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone are immune to radiation – what this means for mankind

Tiny worms that live in the highly radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone were found to be immune to radiation — which scientists hope could provide clues about why some humans develop cancer, while others do not.

The 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant made the area one of the most radioactive landscapes on Earth and scientists have been studying the effects of the disaster on plants and animals within the 20-mile zone surrounding the power plant in the four decades since.

“Chornobyl was a tragedy of incomprehensible scale, but we still don’t have a great grasp on the effects of the disaster on local populations,” said Sophia Tintori, a researcher for New York University.

“Did the sudden environmental shift select for species, or even individuals within a species, that are naturally more resistant to ionizing radiation?”

Tintori and a team of NYU researchers studied the effects of the high levels of radiation on microscopic worms living in the zone — and found that they are “exceptionally resilient.”

Unlike other animals that have been studied — including wild wolves that have developed cancer-resilient genomes — the worms have simple genomes and live short lives, allowing the scientists to study multiple generations over a short period of time. 

“These worms live everywhere, and they live quickly, so they go through dozens of generations of evolution while a typical vertebrate is still putting on its shoes,” one of the study’s authors Matthew Rockman said.

The NYU team analyzed the genetics and evolution of 15 worms of the nematode species (Oscheius tipulae) and compared them to five other nematode species from various parts of the world, including the United States.

None of the worms showed signs of DNA damage from the high levels of radiation.

The team also measured how sensitive the descendants of each of the 20 worms were to different types of DNA damage and found that any differences didn’t correspond to the levels of radiation at each collection site.

This suggests that worms from Chornobyl are not necessarily more tolerant of radiation and the radioactive landscape has not forced them to evolve, the researchers said.

Tintori was quick to warn that this doesn’t mean the disaster site is now safe.

“It more likely means that nematodes are really resilient animals and can withstand extreme conditions,” she said.

The researchers hope to use their research to better understand how humans can repair DNA and understand why “different individuals are more likely than others to suffer the effects of carcinogens,” Tintori said.

They are hoping to use the findings for cancer research to give a “clear vision of our own risk factors.”

One drawback of the study, however, was that scientists were unable to know how long the worms were in the zones they collected them from, therefore they don’t know how long each animal was exposed to radiation.