Author Topic: Do Fungi Feast on Radiation? (Read 1289 times)

Dragonoake · « **on:** March 10, 2012, 09:23:17 pm »

Apparently, but only if they contain melanin, the chemical that serves as skin pigment in humans

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=radiation-helps-fungi-grow

Dragonoake · « **Reply #1 on:** March 10, 2012, 09:28:14 pm »

Quote from: Dragonoake;45500

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I've often wondered whether an organism might evolve that uses ionizing radiation as an energy source in a low light environment, such as Europa
This could give us a clue about what to look for

Owl · « **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2012, 09:30:38 pm »

Quote from: Dragonoake;45500

Apparently, but only if they contain melanin, the chemical that serves as skin pigment in humans

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=radiation-helps-fungi-grow

Totally cool!

cigfran · « **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2012, 09:46:52 pm »

Quote from: Dragonoake;45500

Apparently, but only if they contain melanin, the chemical that serves as skin pigment in humans

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=radiation-helps-fungi-grow

Which totally explains Matango!

Dragonoake · « **Reply #4 on:** March 10, 2012, 09:56:21 pm »

Quote from: Owl;45503

Totally cool!

It could also have applications in RTGs

Dragonoake · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2012, 03:54:02 am »

Quote from: cigfran;45506

Which totally explains Matango!

I've seen pictures of pine trees in front of the Chernobyl power plant that the locals call "magic wood" because they are so radioactive that they glow in the dark.
I think they said the radiation level in that grove was something like 30k roentgens/hour (which for humans, means lethal exposure in about five minutes) but the trees, at least, look healthy

RandallS · « **Reply #6 on:** March 11, 2012, 08:40:23 am »

Quote from: Dragonoake;45500

Apparently, but only if they contain melanin, the chemical that serves as skin pigment in humans

More like "maybe" instead of apparently. The observation is that melanin containing fungi grow better than fungi without melanin when exposed to ionizing radiation. The hypothesis stressed in this article is that this is because the fungi are feeding on the radiation. An alternative hypothesis (barely mentioned) is that they do better because the melanin protects them from radiation so the non-melanin fungi are doing worse while the melanin are simply doing normal. Which (if either) is true is yet to be tested.

Dragonoake · « **Reply #7 on:** March 21, 2012, 01:44:58 am »

Quote from: RandallS;45530

The observation is that melanin containing fungi grow better than fungi without melanin when exposed to ionizing radiation. The hypothesis stressed in this article is that this is because the fungi are feeding on the radiation.

I was thinking .....
Since ionizing radiation seems the simplest way to produce complex pre-biotic chemistry from clouds of dust, would it not be possible that earliest life forms could have evolved in a similar environment?
Perhaps an organism utilizing melanin as a method of harvesting environmental energy could have arisen, which would later have evolved into one that used chlorophyll as it adapted to changes in its environment, much as Hemoglobin replaced Hemocyanin as marine organisms moved onto dry land

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Author Topic: Do Fungi Feast on Radiation? (Read 1289 times)

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Do Fungi Feast on Radiation?

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