The aim of our experiment Phage and Uracil Response was to extend the use of bacteriophage T7 and uracil biological dosimeters for measuring the biologically effective ultraviolet (UV) dose in the harsh extraterrestrial radiation conditions. The biological detectors were exposed in vacuum-tightly cases in the European Space Agency (ESA) astrobiological exposure facility attached to the external platform of Zvezda (EXPOSE-R). EXPOSE-R took off to the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2008 and was installed on the External platform of the Russian module Zvezda of the ISS in March 2009. Our goal was to determine the dose–effect relation for the formation of photoproducts (i.e. damage to phage DNA and uracil, respectively). The extraterrestrial solar UV radiation ranges over the whole spectrum from vacuum-UV (λ<200 nm) to UVA (315 nm<λ<400 nm), which causes photolesions (photoproducts) in the nucleic acids/their components either by photoionization or excitation. However, these wavelengths cause not only photolesions but in a wavelength-dependent efficiency the reversion of some photolesions, too. Our biological detectors measured in situ conditions the resultant of both reactions induced by the extraterrestrial UV radiation. From this aspect the role of the photoreversion in the extension of the biological UV dosimetry are discussed.

High folate intake may increase the risk of cancer, especially in the elderly. The present study examined the effects of ageing and dietary folate on uracil misincorporation into DNA, which has a mutagenic effect, in the mouse colon and liver. Old (18 months; n 42) and young (4 months; n 42) male C57BL/6 mice were pair-fed with four different amino acid-defined diets for 20 weeks: folate deplete (0 mg/kg diet); folate replete (2 mg/kg diet); folate supplemented (8 mg/kg diet); folate deplete (0 mg/kg diet) with thymidine supplementation (1·8 g/kg diet). Thymidylate synthesis from uracil requires folate, but synthesis from thymidine is folate independent. Liver folate concentrations were determined by the Lactobacillus casei assay. Uracil misincorporation into DNA was measured by a GC/MS method. Liver folate concentrations demonstrated a stepwise increase across the spectrum of dietary folate levels in both old (P = 0·003) and young (P < 0·001) mice. Uracil content in colonic DNA was paradoxically increased in parallel with increasing dietary folate among the young mice (P trend = 0·033), but differences were not observed in the old mice. The mean values of uracil in liver DNA, in contrast, decreased with increasing dietary folate among the old mice, but it did not reach a statistically significant level (P < 0·1). Compared with the folate-deplete group, thymidine supplementation reduced uracil misincorporation into the liver DNA of aged mice (P = 0·026). The present study suggests that the effects of folate and thymidine supplementation on uracil misincorporation into DNA differ depending on age and tissue. Further studies are needed to clarify the significance of increased uracil misincorporation into colonic DNA of folate-supplemented young mice.

It is important to say that the formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide have been detected in the interstellar medium through resonance spectrum emission. Here I describe a way to produce uracil in interstellar space.