Radiotrophic mushrooms

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As radiotrophic fungus is a series of fungi with hefenartigem growth. All of these mushrooms have melanin as a pigment and are called radiotrophic because they actively grow on radiation sources .

Occurrence

Melanin is produced by mushrooms to adapt to extreme environmental conditions. Melanized fungal hyphae are found in Arctic and Antarctic frost areas as well as in soil layers with increased radioactivity. Melanin also plays a role in the pathogenicity of many pathogens, such as Cryptococcus neoformans or Aspergillus fumigatus . The oxygen radicals produced by the immune system act as oxidizing agents , melanin acts as a redox buffer and can thus neutralize them. This effect can be intensified by the binding of doubly positively charged iron ions [Fe (II)] to the melanin.

In reactor block 4, which exploded in Chernobyl , there is a large population of the melanin-containing fungi Cryptococcus neoformans and Wangiella dermatitidis . When exposed to radioactivity, these show an increased metabolic activity.

literature

  • Ekaterina Dadachova, Ruth A. Bryan, Xianchun Huang, Tiffany Moadel, Andrew D. Schweitzer, Philip Aisen, Joshua D. Nosanchuk, Arturo Casadevall: Ionizing Radiation Changes the Electronic Properties of Melanin and Enhances the Growth of Melanized Fungi . PLoS ONE 2 (5), 2007, e457. doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0000457