Human minisatellite mutation rate after the Chernobyl accident.

Germline mutation at human minisatellite loci has been studied among children born in heavily polluted areas of the Mogilev district of Belarus after the Chernobyl accident and in a control population. The frequency of mutation was found to be twice as high in the exposed families as in the control group. Mutation rate in the Mogilev families was correlated with the level of caesium-137 surface contamination, consistent with radiation induction of germline mutation.