Nuclear pollution is an urgent environmental issue and is a consequence of rapid industrialization and nuclear accidents in the past. Remediation of nuclear polluted sites using microbial vital activity (bioremediation) is a promising approach to recover contaminated areas in an environmentally friendly and cost-saving way. At the same time, the number of known bacterial and archaeal species able to withstand extremely high doses of ionizing radiation (IR) is steadily growing every year, together with growing knowledge about mechanisms of radioresistance that opens up opportunities for developing new biotechnological solutions. However, these data are often not systemized, and can be difficult to access. Here, we present the Determinants of Radioresistance Database, or DetR DB, gathering a comprehensive catalog of radioresistant microbes and their molecular and genetic determinants of enhanced IR tolerance. The database provides search tools, including taxonomy, common gene name, and BLAST. DetR DB will be a useful tool for the research community by facilitating the extraction of the necessary information to help further analysis of radiation-resistant mechanisms.

An environmental reconstruction of vegetation and climate is inferred from pollen records of Lake Rubskoe (Ivanovo region, Central Russia). The reconstruction suggests a general prevalence of pollen of broad-leaved trees. The results suggest a relatively cold period during the earlier part of the record (500–400 cm) followed by a warmer period (400–160 cm). Climate conditions similar to modern ones are reconstructed for the youngest sediments (160–50 cm).

Nuclear pollution is an urgent environmental issue as a consequence of rapid industrialization and nuclear accidents in the past. Remediation of nuclear polluted sites using microbial vital activity (bioremediation) is a promising approach to recover contaminated areas in an environmentally friendly and cost-saving way. At the same time, the number of known bacterial and archaeal species able to withstand extremely high doses of ionizing radiation is steadily growing every year, together with growing knowledge about mechanisms of radioresistance. This opens up new opportunities for developing new biotechnological solutions. However, these data are often not systemized and it can be difficult to access. Here, we present the Determinants of Radioresistance Database, or DetR DB (http://extremebiolab.com/detr-db/), gathering a comprehensive catalog of radioresistant microbes and their molecular and genetic determinants of enhanced ionizing radiation tolerance. The database provides search tools including taxonomy, common gene name, and BLAST. DetR DB will be a useful tool for research community by facilitating the extraction of the necessary information to help further analysis of radiation-resistant mechanisms.