DNA is a large molecule particularly sensitive to ionizing radiation, which
suffers several kinds of damage: fragmentation resulting from both singlestrand
and double-strand breaks, denaturation of the DNA helix, crosslinking
(e.g., production of thymine dimers, or between DNA and a protein)
and base damage.1–3 It causes primarily single strand breaks (SSBs) in
genomic DNA, in addition to double strand breaks (DSBs) at ratios of SSB/
DSB of 20/1 to 70/1, as well as some detectable membrane damage.4 In
foods, this DNA susceptibility is the cause of death of most if not all living
contaminants, such as microorganisms, insects, or parasites,4 and is also
the cause of changes in the food’s DNA itself, which can reflect on various
morphological and physiological features.
PR thanks the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and
FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO [UID/AGR/
00690/2013]. AV thanks the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of the UID/BIO/04469/
2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684), and BioTecNorte
operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European
Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa
Operacional Regional do Norte.
