Using model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to evaluate the effects of ELF-MF and RF-EMF exposure on global gene expression.
Chen G, Lu D, Chiang H, Leszczynski D, Xu Z. · 2012
View Original AbstractEven high-level EMF exposure altered only 2 genes in yeast cells, suggesting limited direct genetic effects.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed yeast cells to power line magnetic fields and cell phone radiation for six hours to study genetic changes. Magnetic fields caused no confirmed gene alterations, while cell phone radiation changed only two genes out of thousands tested, suggesting minimal genetic impact.
Why This Matters
This study provides important baseline data using yeast as a model organism to understand how EMF affects gene expression at the cellular level. The radiofrequency exposure level of 4.7 W/kg SAR is significantly higher than typical cell phone use (which averages 0.5-1.5 W/kg), yet produced minimal genetic changes. While yeast cells are obviously much simpler than human cells, this research contributes to our understanding of EMF's biological mechanisms. The reality is that even when researchers use high exposure levels and sensitive detection methods, the cellular response to EMF appears quite limited. What this means for you is that this study adds to evidence suggesting EMF's direct genetic effects may be more constrained than some fear, though we still need human cell studies to draw definitive conclusions about health risks.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 4.7 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 1800 MHz RF-EMF
- Exposure Duration
- 6h
Exposure Context
This study used 4.7 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 11.8x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
The potential health hazard of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) continues to cause public concern. However, the possibility of biological and health effects of exposure to EMF remains controversial and their biophysical mechanisms are unknown.
In the present study, we used Saccharomyces cerevisiae to identify genes responding to extremely low...
We were unable to confirm microarray-detected changes in three of the ELF-MF responsive candidate ge...
In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that the yeast cells did not alter gene expression in response to 50 Hz ELF-MF and that the response to RF-EMF is limited to only a very small number of genes. The possible biological consequences of the gene expression changes induced by RF-EMF await further investigation.
Show BibTeX
@article{g_2012_using_model_organism_saccharomyces_1,
author = {Chen G and Lu D and Chiang H and Leszczynski D and Xu Z.},
title = {Using model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to evaluate the effects of ELF-MF and RF-EMF exposure on global gene expression.},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1002/bem.21724},
url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bem.21724/full},
}