# The Fungi That Ate Chernobyl **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 7, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169 "2007-06-07T19:32:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/1 "2007-06-07T19:32:49Z")
[Gamma radiation: It’s what’s for dinner.](http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2007/05/24/gamma-radiation-its-whats-for-dinner) > [@](#): > > Published this week in the open access journal PLoS ONE, the researchers found that melanin, a naturally occurring pigment in many fungi, allows the organism to “eat” ionizing radiation, converting it into useful energy that the organism can directly use. To further test this hypothesis, two different species of fungi were exposed to high doses of radiation: Cryptococcus neoformans, which was mutated to produce melanin, and Wangiella dermatitidis, which naturally contains melanin. Both species were found to grow significantly faster when exposed to radiation levels 500 times that of the background radiation as compared to samples grown under radiologically-normal conditions. Further research into the mechanism of how melanin converts radiation into fungus food revealed that the high energy radiation alters the electronic structure of the melanin, allowing the process to proceed. This finding is doubly interesting, since traditionally, fungi, unlike plants, are not autotrophs and depend upon an external food source. Plants, on the other hand, harness sunlight to create their food. I wonder how you say, “Don’t make me angry, Mr. Mcgee, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” in Russian? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/2 "2007-06-07T20:21:31Z")
I don’t know what to say except that’s really cool if true. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/3 "2007-06-08T20:52:38Z")
You better watch out for the fungi that ate Chernobyl For it may eat your city soon (wacka-doo, wacka-doo, wacka-doo) You better watch out for the fungi that ate Chernobyl If it’s still hungry, The whole world is doomed! ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/4 "2007-06-08T20:56:26Z")
Does this mean the truffle market will take off? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/5 "2007-06-08T21:07:04Z")
Taking nutrition from gamma radiation is neat, but not precisely what I’d call unprecedented. What the linked article doesn’t make clear to me is whether the effect of the melanin gammasynthesis is to also protect the fungi from the gamma radiation. IOW, how much of a shielding effect does this have for the organism’s cellular function? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/6 "2007-06-08T21:15:07Z")
_Fungus Banner, belted by gamma rays Turns into the Mold! Ain’t he unglamou-rays Wreckin’ the town with the power of a mould Ain’t no mushroom crowned who is that loveable As ever-lovin’ Mold!.. Mold! Mold!_ ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/7 "2007-06-08T21:29:30Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Taking nutrition from gamma radiation is neat, but not precisely what I’d call unprecedented. What the linked article doesn’t make clear to me is whether the effect of the melanin gammasynthesis is to also protect the fungi from the gamma radiation. IOW, how much of a shielding effect does this have for the organism’s cellular function? [/QUOTE] According to the NPR piece I heard about this, the dosage levels where the stuff’s growing are lethal to humans, but it would take something like a million times that amount to kill the fungus. Also, the fungus is NOT radioactive. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/8 "2007-06-08T21:36:00Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] According to the NPR piece I heard about this, the dosage levels where the stuff’s growing are lethal to humans, but it would take something like a million times that amount to kill the fungus. [/quote] Cool! > [@](#): > > Also, the fungus is NOT radioactive. That goes without saying. A little ignorance fighting here - there’s really only one kind of radiation that will **make** things radioactive: neutron fluxes. Alpha, beta and gamma rays all can cause radiation damage, but they don’t actually activate (make the exposed materiel radioactive.) what they irradiate. Now, WRT Chernobyl area materiels, those from the area are likely going to be _contaminated_, but that’s not the same thing as being inherently radioactive. It’s that there’s a lot of dust there that’s still blowing around with things that came out of the plant when it burned. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/9 "2007-06-08T23:49:39Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] I wonder how you say, “Don’t make me angry, Mr. Mcgee, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” in Russian? [/QUOTE] Не рассердите меня. Я бы не вам понравиться когда я сердитый. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/10 "2007-06-09T00:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=CynicalGabe] Не рассердите меня. Я бы не вам понравиться когда я сердитый. [/QUOTE] That puts emphasis on “you” rather than “like”, as in somebody would like me when I’m angry, but **not you** Mr. Mcgee. “Не серди меня. Тебе я не понравлюсь, если я рассержусь.” ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/11 "2007-06-10T11:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Taking nutrition from gamma radiation is neat, but not precisely what I’d call unprecedented. What the linked article doesn’t make clear to me is whether the effect of the melanin gammasynthesis is to also protect the fungi from the gamma radiation. IOW, how much of a shielding effect does this have for the organism’s cellular function? [/QUOTE] Not unprecedented? This is the first time I’d heard of it. That was the first question raised in my mind, whether the fugi had ever relied on radiation as an energy source somewhere in nature, or if this was new. Also the article doesn’t make clear just how much of the energy comes from the radiation. It just said they grew “significantly faster.” ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/12 "2007-06-10T12:50:17Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] Not unprecedented? This is the first time I’d heard of it. That was the first question raised in my mind, whether the fugi had ever relied on radiation as an energy source somewhere in nature, or if this was new. Also the article doesn’t make clear just how much of the energy comes from the radiation. It just said they grew “significantly faster.” [/QUOTE] **riker1384** , what I’d meant to allude to is that photosynthesis - the capture of photonic energy to convert to chemical energy for biological processes - is simply using far lower energy gamma rays that those that this fungi can use to synthesize usable energy. I can’t say that I know of any other organism that’s using such high energy photons for an energy source, but if you’ll grant me that there’s little qualatative difference between photons, utilizing different capture dyes to better harvest different wavelengths of light is a long recognized biological trait. Now, if you want to claim that having a fungi doing what can be described as photosynthesis is unprecendented, I’m not sure I can disagree - I certainly don’t know of any other examples. But I will stand by my belief that the difference between chlorophyl photosyntheis and melanin gammasynthesis is it’s simply a new photo-sensitive dye being used to capture the energy. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/13 "2007-06-10T12:53:37Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] Not unprecedented? This is the first time I’d heard of it. That was the first question raised in my mind, whether the fugi had ever relied on radiation as an energy source somewhere in nature, or if this was new. Also the article doesn’t make clear just how much of the energy comes from the radiation. It just said they grew “significantly faster.” [/QUOTE] [Here’s](http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2007/May/hour1_052507.html) a link to an interview with the discoverer that has more info on the fungus. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/14 "2007-06-10T13:37:49Z")
Of course, the fact that the article is attributed to Richards, R., and Banner, D. B., with assistance from Storm, S. and J., Grimm, B., and Parker, P., might cause minor skepticism! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/15 "2007-06-10T13:56:07Z")
Oh, c’mon, this is old news. Back in the 50’s there were a whole bunch of documentaries about animals, even people, grown to enormous size after nuclear blasts. Ants, spiders, army colonels, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/16 "2007-06-10T13:59:31Z")
[Here’s](http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0000457) a link to the original paper. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/17 "2007-06-10T14:37:59Z")
So does this harbinger the use of radiation-eating fungi to clean up radioactive waste? Because that would make it go from beyond cool to really, really valuable. As long as the fungi don’t grow to people-eating size. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/18 "2007-06-10T14:44:32Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] So does this harbinger the use of radiation-eating fungi to clean up radioactive waste? Because that would make it go from beyond cool to really, really valuable. [/QUOTE] According to the NPR piece, that’s a distinct possibility. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2007, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/19 "2007-06-10T14:49:49Z")
I know this isn’t an amusing comment in the vein of most of this thread, but it would be nice if _something_ good came out of Chernobyl. Because that was a real tragedy. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fungi-that-ate-chernobyl/407169/20 "2007-06-11T10:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] As long as the fungi don’t grow to people-eating size. :eek: [/QUOTE] [Parasitic life form that feeds off energy from humans?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_%28species%29)