Mechanistic DNA damage simulations in Geant4-DNA Part 2

Electron and proton damage in a bacterial cell

Journal article (2018)

Authors

Nathanael Lampe Université de Bordeaux, UMR 6524
Mathieu Karamitros Université de Bordeaux
Vincent Breton UMR 6524
J.M.C. Brown RST/Radiation, Science and Technology , RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes - AS
Dousatsu Sakata Université de Bordeaux
David Sarramia UMR 6524
Sebastien Incerti Université de Bordeaux
Research Group
RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes (AS) (TU Delft)
E. coli DNA damage Geant4 Monte Carlo track structure
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Published Date

01-04-2018

Language

English

Reuse Rights

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Faculty

Applied Sciences

Department

RST/Radiation, Science and Technology

Research Group

RST/Applied Radiation & Isotopes

Abstract

We extended a generic Geant4 application for mechanistic DNA damage simulations to an Escherichia coli cell geometry, finding electron damage yields and proton damage yields largely in line with experimental results. Depending on the simulation of radical scavenging, electrons double strand breaks (DSBs) yields range from 0.004 to 0.010 DSB Gy−1 Mbp−1, while protons have yields ranging from 0.004 DSB Gy−1 Mbp−1 at low LETs and with strict assumptions concerning scavenging, up to 0.020 DSB Gy−1 Mbp−1 at high LETs and when scavenging is weakest. Mechanistic DNA damage simulations can provide important limits on the extent to which physical processes can impact biology in low background experiments. We demonstrate the utility of these studies for low dose radiation biology calculating that in E. coli, the median rate at which the radiation background induces double strand breaks is 2.8 × 10−8 DSB day−1, significantly less than the mutation rate per generation measured in E. coli, which is on the order of 10−3.