Discovery at Chernobyl. Life thrives in a radioactive environment.

[Ayjaydee]

The fungi apparently has a mechanism involving melanin that it is using to convert the energy from radiation to energy it can use for growth.

Its using radiation to promote growth
I dont believe its converting it

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I dont believe fungi breaks down radiation

That's exactly what it's doing though.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Its using radiation to promote growth
I dont believe its converting it

If it is using it, it has to be converting it somehow. Maybe @Polymath257 might have some insight on this.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Plants dont break down sunlight.

Yes. They must have it and take it in for photosynthesis.
What Is Photosynthesis? | Live Science

Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy.
...
There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.

carbohydrates. In this transfer, the CO2 is "reduced," or receives electrons, and the water becomes "oxidized," or loses electrons. Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates.
On the other hand, anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors other than water. The process typically occurs in bacteria such as purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are primarily found in various aquatic habitats.

"Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not produce oxygen — hence the name," said David Baum, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "What is produced depends on the electron donor. For example, many bacteria use the bad-eggs-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide, producing solid sulfur as a byproduct."

Though both types of photosynthesis are complex, multistep affairs, the overall process can be neatly summarized as a chemical equation.

Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows:

6CO2 + 12H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O

Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) combine with 12 molecules of water (H2O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C6H12O6, or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water.

Similarly, the various anoxygenic photosynthesis reactions can be represented as a single generalized formula:

CO2 + 2H2A + Light Energy → [CH2O] + 2A + H2O

The letter A in the equation is a variable and H2A represents the potential electron donor. For example, A may represent sulfur in the electron donor hydrogen sulfide (H2S), explained Govindjee and John Whitmarsh, plant biologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the book "Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis" (Narosa Publishers and Kluwer Academic, 1999).

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If it is using it, it has to be converting it somehow. Maybe @Polymath257 might have some insight on this.

With this being something else fungi can apparently handle and take care of, it makes me wonder if there might be some fungus out there that holds the key to solving the plastic and styrofoam pollution that plagues the Earth?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

With this being something else fungi can apparently handle and take care of, it makes me wonder if there might be some fungus out there that holds the key to solving the plastic and styrofoam pollution that plagues the Earth?

Bioremediation is a very active field research. It would likely be bacterial or fungal, but it could even be a plant. We aleady have examples of bacteria that have evolved to utilize nylon and glyphosate. Plastics might be a little more difficult, but still possible. Some plants can take in and sequester heavy metals. With gene editing and genetic engineering, we might even design our own.

One trick would be in containing what we discover or make so that it goes after plastics when it is waste and not before that.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Bioremediation is a very active field research. It would likely be bacterial or fungal, but it could even be a plant. We aleady have examples of bacteria that have evolved to utilize nylon and glyphosate. Plastics might be a little more difficult, but still possible. Some plants can take in and sequester heavy metals. With gene editing and genetic engineering, we might even design our own.

One trick would be in containing what we discover or make so that it goes after plastics when it is waste and not before that.

I thought of the genetic engineering to address that, such as very limited reproductive abilities and life spans, something that basically produces sterile offspring so it can't spread. Or a programed apoptosis if a certain material isn't ingested within a certain time.

 

[Ayjaydee]

Yes. They must have it and take it in for photosynthesis.
What Is Photosynthesis? | Live Science

Yes , I see what your saying
The fungi molecules molecules that are absorbing the wavelengths of the radiation. I wonder if they absorb all the different wavelengths. And how did it get inside the reactor to begin the process?

 

[Ayjaydee]

If it is using it, it has to be converting it somehow. Maybe @Polymath257 might have some insight on this.

I see it now

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I thought of the genetic engineering to address that, such as very limited reproductive abilities and life spans, something that basically produces sterile offspring so it can't spread. Or a programed apoptosis if a certain material isn't ingested within a certain time.

Something like that would need to be employed to reduce risk.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I wonder if they absorb all the different wavelengths

The entirely of the electromagnetic spectrum? That is unlikely. Most likely a certain frequency within it (such as, say, sunlight frequencies compared to wi-fi frequency or visible light/color frequencies).

And how did it get inside the reactor to begin the process?

Detecting it and moving towards it. Or an airborne spore just got lucky. Hard telling. But the first of them obviously found a rich food source, stuck around, and has been very fruitful in it's multiplying.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Something like that would need to be employed to reduce risk.

And even then I'm sure there would be some unknown that would potentially kick us hard.
We're probably damned if we do, damned if we don't at this point with our plastic and other non-biodegradable pollution.

 

[Ayjaydee]

The entirely of the electromagnetic spectrum? That is unlikely. Most likely a certain frequency within it (such as, say, sunlight frequencies compared to wi-fi frequency or visible light/color frequencies).

Detecting it and moving towards it. Or an airborne spore just got lucky. Hard telling. But the first of them obviously found a rich food source, stuck around, and has been very fruitful in it's multiplying.

I wonder how many wavelengths of the radiation emitted by the contents of the teactor

 

[Dan From Smithville]

And even then I'm sure there would be some unknown that would potentially kick us hard.
We're probably damned if we do, damned if we don't at this point with our plastic and other non-biodegradable pollution.

I was thinking that same thing as I wrote my last post. Unfrtunatelhy, nothing is risk free. Still, some kind of safety feature would have to be worked out.

We have a problem, but it is open to solutions from a number of directions. In some ways, we are just getting started. Who knows what form a solution may take and a successful one will likely be a n integrated approach of some kind.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I wonder how many wavelengths of the radiation emitted by the contents of the teactor

A limited range, but a higher one given it would have to be above ultraviolet frequencies.

 

[exchemist]

Plants use radiation all the time to grow.

True, but gamma radiation would be expected from classical chemistry to be far too energetic to be captured by chemical bonds. I found this link: Radiotrophic fungus - Wikipedia. which implicates melanin in the process, but it seems nobody yet understands by what mechanism the high energy of gamma rays is absorbed and converted into more manageable chunks, for use in ATP production. I can imagine that Compton scattering, for example, which only intercepts a proportion of the energy, could conceivably lead to some kind of reversible ionisation in the molecule, and that the ions might give up energy to some chemical process as they are neutralised again. But this is mere hand-waving.

Very intriguing, anyway - and I suppose invites a further question, of possible relevance to life on the early Earth. Is this mechanism of energy capture a product of evolution at Chernobyl, or was the capability already there, latent within the fungi, from their long-distant ancestors on the early Earth? Or again, have there always been radiotrophic fungi deep within the Earth using this mechanism, and we've only noticed them now because they are the only things that can survive in the radiation-saturated environment at Chernobyl? I do hope someone is researching all this. It could be a highly productive topic.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

True, but gamma radiation would be expected from classical chemistry to be far too energetic to be captured by chemical bonds. I found this link: Radiotrophic fungus - Wikipedia. which implicates melanin in the process, but it seems nobody yet understands by what mechanism the high energy of gamma rays is absorbed and converted into more manageable chunks, for use in ATP production. I can imagine that Compton scattering, for example, which only intercepts a proportion of the energy, could conceivably lead to some kind of reversible ionisation in the molecule, and that the ions might give up energy to some chemical process as they are neutralised again. But this is mere hand-waving.

Very intriguing, anyway - and I suppose invites a further question, of possible relevance to life on the early Earth. Is this mechanism of energy capture a product of evolution at Chernobyl, or was the capability already there, latent within the fungi, from their long-distant ancestors on the early Earth? Or again, have there always been radiotrophic fungi deep within the Earth using this mechanism, and we've only noticed them now because they are the only things that can survive in the radiation-saturated environment at Chernobyl? I do hope someone is researching all this. It could be a highly productive topic.

Interesting. That is an intriguing thought. Fungi are eukaryotes, that are estimated to have arisen about 1.3 billion years ago. They were responsible, along with the later arising plants, for altering the environment making it suitable for us poor vertebrates. I have no idea what radiation could have been present in the early part of their run, but it would be interesting to find out. I haven't seen anything detailing the taxonomy of the particular fungi or if it is a newly encountered species or not.

I think you are right in hoping that people are looking at this with interest. I hope they are too. There may be some real value in knowledge to come out of this unfortunate accident.

 

[Howard Is]

With this being something else fungi can apparently handle and take care of, it makes me wonder if there might be some fungus out there that holds the key to solving the plastic and styrofoam pollution that plagues the Earth?

Ideonella sakaiensis - Wikipedia

Scientists accidentally create mutant enzyme that eats plastic bottles

Could these plastic-eating enzymes be the miracle solution to our plastic problem?

 

[Audie]

Chernobyl shocker as fungi that eats radiation found inside nuclear reactor | Fox News

A fungi that eats radiation. How weird is that?

I think the search parameters for life in the universe has just expanded.

This is like saying plants eat the sun

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I dunno. It's the first I heard of it.

they may ingest/absorb it into their tissues, thus concentrating from the soil...but that doesn't get rid of the radioactive materials...but it's a principle that is used in radwaste management to help 'clean up' contamination...