A MICROBE MORE TOUGHER THAN MAN
Tougher than the world's toughest man
With tremendous abilities to withstand drought
Resistant against radiation a thousand times than man can withstand
Able to survive lack of nutrient
Therefore known as a polyextremophile
I PRESENT TO YOU
DEINOCOCCUS RADIODURANS
NICKNAME: CONAN THE BACTERIUM
The name Deinococcus radiodurans derives from the Ancient Greek
δεινός (deinos) and κόκκος (kokkos) meaning "terrible grain/berry" and the Latin radius and durare, meaning "radiation surviving"
Deinococcus radiodurans was discovered by Arthur W Anderson at oregon agriculture experiment station
HOW?
Arthur W Anderson and his coworkers were looking for a way to sterilize canned food with high dose of gamma radiation (which is the strongest out of alpha, beta and gamma rays with ability to go through the human skin and only dense materials like lead can stop them) which was thought that no form of microbial life can escape fury of gamma rays but to the surprise of Arthur W Anderson the can meat spoilt later, puzzled as to why this happened they investigated only to find CANON THE BACTERIUM in the meat.
This nonmotiile bacteria has a diameter of 1.5 to 3.5 µm also known as an obligate chemoheteroorganotroph which means it uses oxygen to get energy from compounds containing organic materials such as meat (oh! no wonder it was found in meat), feces and even in sewage
Some of its secret that makes it able to survive as a polyextremophile are uncommon layering that can be thought of as a lead vest, it has multiple copies of its genome and rapid repair mechanism of damaged DNA
This process starts by
Joining some chromosome fragments via single strand annealing immediately followed by a protein that repairs double -strand breaks through homologous recombination. With these two steps Canon the bacterium can withstand up to 10,000 Gy, where a human can only survive 5 Gy
Deinococuss radiodurans remains a legend
With abilities to survive harsh conditions that tries to bring its existence to an end
Thanks for reading
All these extremophiles scare me. The tardigrades just give me the creeps.
Lol... you don't have to be scared
Deinococuss radiodurans is not found to cause any disease yet
Actually, I'm not scared of the diseases they could cause. The fact that they can survive where we'll be obliterated is what gives me the creeps. I think saying that I am jealous of them explains my feelings better.
Oh better
And I walk away from this article having learned about one other extremophile I don't think I'd ever have heard of otherwise...
The only creature I knew of to survive nuclear radiation was the cockroach. The common little pest in such vast numbers of households, so easily ground to death under the 'mighty' heel of a human being, might also survive with such ease an event and force of nature that can lay to waste everything man-made it touches, and make those very same 'mighty' humans collapse out of sheer sickness...it's impressive really.
Such lifeforms just go to show how vast and incomprehensible nature's way of doing things is, and how little we know by contrast. No matter who's bigger and who's smaller, we're all subject to the way of Nature's will.
Good post, m8. Informative in just the right amounts. Syntax could use some mild improvement, but otherwise, an enlightening post.
Good job :)
Yea I would work on it (syntax)
Really!!! I didn't know cockroach could withstand radiation too....Hmmmmm thanks for this information
I really appreciate @callistanix
Yeah, it's generally quite good, but lapses every now and then, but still solid overall. You could probably put it on a list of self improvement somewhere or something :P
My current work is on punctuality...got a real problem being on time XD
Oh yeah...tough bastards, they are.
No problem, @paulobacter :)
We're all here to help one another, no? :D
@paulobacter that's a good one there
Thanks @mike4christ
good one.
Thanks @juceleonu
Hmm.. The beauty of creation, nice post
Nice