Bacteria Excretes Gold

Source: newatlas.com

C. metallidurans is a bacterium that amazingly excretes gold nuggets. The amazing thing it that it consumes toxic metals, two very good attributes. This is what people involved in alchemy have been searching for.

Source: newatlas.com

It thrives in soil rich with heavy metal which is toxic to most microorganisms. As a defense mechanism it evolved to ingest these heavy metals. Researchers from Martin Luther University discovered that C. metallidurans needs copper to extract the trace element from it surroundings, the bacterium converts it into a form that's easier to import.

C. metallidurans has an enzyme called CupA that pumps out excess copper. After it has absorbed the gold and copper, CupA is switched off and CopA is switched on. CopA converts the gold and copper back into their original forms. These original forms are hard to digest, so few copper and gold compounds enter the cellular interior. The enzyme that eliminates the copper will evacuate the copper and the gold compounds are pushed to the outer area of the cell.