Researchers at IISER Thiruvananthapuram studied the effects of blue light on yeast.
They found blue light greatly increases genetic mutations called loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in yeast DNA.
LOH means parts of DNA lose diversity, which can cause diseases or help evolution.
The study tested yeast grown under different stresses like blue light, heat, salt, and low sugar for about 1,000 generations.
Blue light caused the highest number of LOH mutations by producing harmful reactive oxygen molecules that damaged DNA.
Blue light also caused unique DNA errors by oxidizing DNA bases.
These findings suggest prolonged blue light exposure may pose risks to other organisms too, needing more research.
The study suggests blue light’s damaging effects could be used as an antifungal method against drug-resistant yeast.
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