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Post by sammy on Oct 3, 2009 21:01:57 GMT -5
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Post by ruth on Oct 3, 2009 21:38:29 GMT -5
If you wikipedia "Radiotrophic fungus", you would find this entry about the black mold that capture gamma radiation using a pigment called melanin -- the same pigment as we have -- as an energy source. That is the only other radiotrophic microorganism that I have heard of.
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Post by lilsissy on Oct 3, 2009 22:20:17 GMT -5
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Post by toni on Oct 4, 2009 9:55:26 GMT -5
Wow Sammy, this is INCREDIBLY intriguing! Desulforudis audaxviator is a bacterium, which lives in depths from 1.5 km to 3 km below the Earth's surface in the groundwater. It is the only bacterium found in water samples obtained 2.8 km underground in the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa. Approximately four micrometres in length, it has survived for millions of years on chemical food sources that derive from the radioactive decay of minerals in the surrounding rock, making it one of the few organisms known that does not depend on sunlight for nourishment and the only species known to be alone in its ecosystem. D. audaxviator has genes for extracting carbon from dissolved carbon dioxide and for nitrogen fixation. It may also have acquired genes from a species of archaea by horizontal gene transfer. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desulforudis_audaxviator
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Post by toni on Oct 4, 2009 9:58:40 GMT -5
Ruth,
So are the Radiotrophic fungi!
Wow, this is something to check out too.
Thanks Sammy and Ruth.
(because just off the cuff, in thinking about the black specks that look like carbon particles - and so minute - those are not normal, as they have the ability to sink in and out of the skin like it's made of butter!)
GREAT FINDS!
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Post by toni on Oct 4, 2009 10:37:23 GMT -5
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