[Premolecular period of the postradiation remodelling of cells]

Recovery of yeast cells after exposure to ionizing radiation was found in 1957. During the first decade, i.e. in the "premolecular period" of studying the phenomenon, its basic features were revealed: dependence on ploidy of cells, on their energy exchange, on radiation LTE, and others. A mathematical model of recovery was proposed; the damages causing death of irradiated haploid and diploid cells were shown to be double strand breaks of DNA. The concepts of universal biological importance of the cell property to repair genetic damages were formulated.