Mouse Genomic Associations With ex vivo Sensitivity to Simulated Space Radiation

Exposure to ionizing radiation is marked by NASA as a major health hazard for deep space exploration missions. Ionizing radiation sensitivity is determined by both genomic and environmental factors. Understanding their contributions is crucial for designing experiments in model organisms, selecting therapeutic irradiation regimes for cancer patients and evaluating the risk of deep space radiation exposure in astronauts. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms in 15 strains of mice associated with spontaneous and ionizing radiation-induced ex vivo DNA damage. We mapped them to pathways related to carcinogenesis, nervous system damage and immune activation, including some located within the protein coding regions of genes that were predicted to interfere with protein functions. We anticipate that the identification of genes and pathways associated with DNA damage in response to ionizing radiation will improve the selection of mouse models for ionizing radiation research, inform functional validation studies and identify targets for space travel countermeasures.