"Major biological discovery inside the Chernobyl reactor, a fungus that feeds on radiation"
Posting by K. Marcus
link to story | permalink
 September 22, 2007
Chernobyl /tʃɪɾˈnobɨlʲ/ (Chornobyl, Ukrainian: Чорнобиль, Russian: Чернобыль) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, in the Kiev Oblast (province) near the border with Belarus .There has been an exciting new biological discovery inside the tomb of the Chernobyl reactor. Like out of some B-grade sci fi movie, a robot sent into the reactor discovered a thick coat of black slime growing on the walls.
Since it is highly radioactive in there, scientists didn't expect to find anything living, let alone thriving. The robot was instructed to obtain samples of the slime, which it did, and upon examination the slime was even more amazing than was thought at first glance. Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AEC) have found evidence that the fungi possess another talent beyond their ability to decompose matter, the capacity to use radioactivity as an energy source for making food and spurring their growth.
Detailing the research in Public Library of Science ONE, AEC's Arturo Casadevall said his interest was piqued five years ago when he read about how a robot sent into the still-highly-radioactive Chernobyl reactor had returned with samples of black, melanin-rich fungi that were growing on the ruined reactor's walls. "I found that very interesting and began discussing with colleagues whether these fungi might be using the radiation emissions as an energy source," explained Casadevall.
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The sarcophagus will remain radioactive for at least 100.000 years. The age for the pyramids of Egypt is 5,000 to 6,000 years. Sarcophagus may last longer than pyramids. |
This slime, a collection of several fungi actually, was more than just surviving in a radioactive environment, it was actually using gamma radiation as a food source. The fungi appear to use melanin, a chemical found in human skin as well, in the same fashion as plants use chlorophyll. Casadevall and his co-researchers then set about performing a variety of tests using several different fungi. Two types - one that was induced to make melanin (Crytococcus neoformans) and another that naturally contains it (Wangiella dermatitidis) - were exposed to levels of ionizing radiation approximately 500 times higher than background levels. Both of these melanin-containing species grew significantly faster than when exposed to standard background radiation. That is to say, the melanin molecule gets struck by a gamma ray and its chemistry is altered. This is an amazing discovery, no one had even suspected that something like this was possible.
"Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research suggests that melanin can use a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum - ionizing radiation - to benefit the fungi containing it," said co-researcher Ekaterina Dadachova. Interestingly, the melanin in fungi is no different chemically from the melanin in our skin, leading Casadevall to speculate that melanin could be providing energy to skin cells.
Radiation-munching fungi could be on the menu for future space missions. "Since ionizing radiation is prevalent in outer space, astronauts might be able to rely on fungi as an inexhaustible food source on long missions or for colonizing other planets," noted Dadachova.
Excerpted from Science A Go Go and Dougs Darkworld
An excellent story about the Chernobyl disaster and Pripyat is at the Ghost Town link. |
