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. 2019 Apr 12;10:311. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00311

Figure 3.

Figure 3

DNA strand breaks induced in γ-irradiated wild type N2 C. elegans measured using the comet assay. (A) Typical comet images of wild type N2 C. elegans embryonic cells obtained from (i) untreated control animals (undamaged DNA sample). (ii) C. elegans exposed to 20 kRad γ-radiation (damaged DNA sample) and (iii) C. elegans exposed to 40 kRad γ-radiation (damaged DNA sample). (i) In undamaged DNA samples, the DNA remains intact within the highly organized structure and is confined to the nucleus, resulting a halo-like structure. (ii,iii) When DNA is damaged, the relaxed DNA expands out from the nucleoid during electrophoresis, resulting in a structure that resembles a comet with a head composed of intact undamaged DNA and a tail that consists of damaged/broken fragments of DNA. (B) Effects of γ-radiation on DNA damage on nematodes exposed to 0, 20, 40 kRad γ-radiation, determined using the comet assay as the percentage of DNA in the tail. There were 36, 41, and 45% of DNA in tail of the comets in the control, 20 and 40 kRad γ-irradiated animals, respectively. There was a linear relationship between radiation dosage and DNA in tail (R-squared = 1.00). n = minimum 55 comets analyzed per condition.