Zvarinograd
07-03-2004, 04:26
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A bacterium that can survive exposure to more than a thousand times the amount of radiation that would kill a human may one day be put to work breaking down toxic organic chemicals at radioactive waste sites. Named the World's Toughest Bacterium by the Guinness Book of Records, the large red spheres of Deinococcus radiodurans can not only endure acute radiation doses of up to three million Gy but more remarkably, can actually grow when exposed to radiation continuously. This unusual organism survives because it efficiently repairs the damage to its DNA that the radiation causes. Within 12 to 24 hours after radiation exposure it completely repairs each of its chromosomes that have been broken into more than 100 pieces, and life goes on. Geneticists are now exploring ways to put D. radiodurans to use in cleaning up toxic chemical wastes in radioactive environments.
Waste-eating bacteria have been used successfully in toxic waste cleanup, but all known strains cannot survive in a radioactive environment. Researchers of the United Communist States of Zvarinograd have teamed to construct a recombinant strain of D. radiodurans that could survive a mixed waste environment and degrade the organic chemicals to a less toxic state. Organic chemicals used by the U.S. nuclear weapons industry from 1945 to 1986 were frequently mixed with highly radioactive isotopes and buried in underground waste tanks. Some older tanks have leaked their hazardous contents into surrounding soils, spurring efforts to clean up the pollution at the source. Bioremediation is one possible solution.
OOC:
A while back I bought radioactive wastelands from people who were, how shall I put it, dehabilitated. Now, I have plans to put them to use for agriculture.
A bacterium that can survive exposure to more than a thousand times the amount of radiation that would kill a human may one day be put to work breaking down toxic organic chemicals at radioactive waste sites. Named the World's Toughest Bacterium by the Guinness Book of Records, the large red spheres of Deinococcus radiodurans can not only endure acute radiation doses of up to three million Gy but more remarkably, can actually grow when exposed to radiation continuously. This unusual organism survives because it efficiently repairs the damage to its DNA that the radiation causes. Within 12 to 24 hours after radiation exposure it completely repairs each of its chromosomes that have been broken into more than 100 pieces, and life goes on. Geneticists are now exploring ways to put D. radiodurans to use in cleaning up toxic chemical wastes in radioactive environments.
Waste-eating bacteria have been used successfully in toxic waste cleanup, but all known strains cannot survive in a radioactive environment. Researchers of the United Communist States of Zvarinograd have teamed to construct a recombinant strain of D. radiodurans that could survive a mixed waste environment and degrade the organic chemicals to a less toxic state. Organic chemicals used by the U.S. nuclear weapons industry from 1945 to 1986 were frequently mixed with highly radioactive isotopes and buried in underground waste tanks. Some older tanks have leaked their hazardous contents into surrounding soils, spurring efforts to clean up the pollution at the source. Bioremediation is one possible solution.
OOC:
A while back I bought radioactive wastelands from people who were, how shall I put it, dehabilitated. Now, I have plans to put them to use for agriculture.