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Glossary 1. Ultraviolet (UV) light and DNA damage UV light is radiation with a wavelength of 280 ~ 400 nm. UV light with a wavelength longer than 290 nm reaches the Earth's surface because shorter wavelengths are absorbed by the ozone layer. The energy of UV light is easily absorbed by DNA and the DNA damages such as pyrimidine dimers could be induced. Depletion of the ozone layer would allow more of the UV radiation, and particularly the more harmful shorter wavelengths, to reach the Earth's surface. 2. Arabidopsis Arabidopsis is a dicotyledonous plant in the family Brassicaceae, and is the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced. They have been mostly used as a model organism for studying plant biology. 3. Ion beams Ion beams are stream of accelerated charged particles. Ion beams induce mutation by causing DNA damages. 4. Endoreduplication Endoreduplication is the duplication of the genome without mitosis. This is a common process in higher plants. |
