[Genetic sequelae of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in house mice (Mus musculus)].

Genetic disorders were studied in house mice caught from 1986 to 1993 in areas contaminated by radionuclides after the Chernobyl disaster. Dose rates on soil surface ranged from 0.02 to 200 mR/h. Frequency of reciprocal translocations in spermatocytes of the mice studied was relatively low, but increased with dose rate. In populations, frequency of mice heterozygous for recessive lethal mutations decreased with time after the accident. The data obtained allow us to assume that induced mutations may lead to elimination of germ cells and decreased viability in mice heterozygous for the mutations. These processes result in removing excess mutations from the population.