Chromosome Aberrations and the Theory of RBE

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Abstract
The LET [linear energy transfer]-dependence of chromatid-aberration production in pollen tubes of Tradescantia bracteata and the influence of O2 on the process have been determined by track-segment experiments with protons and a particles in the LETo range up to about 100 kev/[mu]. The results are in good agreement with the concept that an aberration results from the interaction of 2 chromatid primary lesions and that a primary lesion is produced by a single energy-loss event in the DNA of a chromatid, probably affecting initially only one strand of the DNA. The data for breaks and gaps are explained most easily in terms of the exchange hypothesis of aberration formation.