Re:Radiotrophic fungus
by blauditore on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @06:32AM
(#20343101)
Given the fact there's hardly any such radiation in the wild, does that mean they evolved that ability just within a few decades? If so, that would be quite astonishing as it seems pretty different from other biochemical mechanisms (e.g. photosynthesis).
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Re:Radiotrophic fungus
by magicalhippo on Wednesday July 03, 2019 @09:42AM
(#20344180)
Radon is an issue many places. It comes from naturally occurring thorium and uranium in rock, especially granite.
I imagine fungi and bacteria might have evolved to be able to utilize the radioactive energy in areas with relatively high concentration.
There is background radiation, but natural nuclear fission reactor can exist too...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reacto...
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and...
i.e., Naturally occurring radiation
Based on how we humans use melanin, I would believe that this is a case of having these environmental-stress-reduction "tools" basically already in play (to deal with UV, free radicals, background radiation, etc.), then capitalizing on their functionality when a new source of stress (ionizing radiation) enters their world.
Not to suggest that the melanin with these particular fungi wasn't a wee bit unique to make it better at dealing with converting ionizing radiation usefully, or that natural selection hasn't taken place to improve the existing melanin for even better utilization of this abundant, high-energy source! I just don't think that the fungi created this from scratch after the exposure began.
There is another example of this occuring, linked from that Wikipedia page:
Humans did not invest radioactive decay. We merely discovered it.
Re:Radiotrophic fungus
by blauditore on Friday July 12, 2019 @04:02AM
(#20419078)
Of course, but the radiation caused by artificial reactors (and their leftovers) is magnitudes higher than anything in the wild.