[THE INFLUENCE OF B-IRRADIATION ON MICROMYCETES ISOLATED FROM THE ZONE OF RADIONUCLIDE CONTAMINATION]

The resistance of the micromycetes to β-irradiation had been studied. The study was conducted on two species: Cladosporium sphaerospermum Penz. and Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissl., each of them was represented by six strains. Half of strains were isolated from the inner locations of the "Shelter" object (SO), which were characterized by different levels of radionuclide contamination. For C. sphaerospermum strains maximum resistance to β-radiation was observed among 20-day-old cultures. The greatest resistance to β-radiation had been demonstrated by two strains: 5-1 (isolated from SO location with the highest level of contamination) and 852 (control). For A. alternata strains maximum resistance to β-radiation was observed among 40-day-old cultures. As the most resistant were characterized 56 and 105 isolates from the SO inner location with a high level of the radionuclide contamination. Based on the obtained results we concluded about high resistance to irradiation of both studied species of anamorphic fungi, which achieved through different life strategies: C. sphaerospermum strains survive due to rapid and abundant formation of conidia, whereas conidia of A. alternata strains are formed slowly, but they have greater advantage under irradiation due to their multicellular structure and large sizes.