it can survive in space for up to 3 years,
photograph Wikimedia Commons, it can survive extreme drought conditions for long periods of time, complete lack of nutrients, extreme temperatures, even more amazingly it can withstand 10,000 times the amount of radiation that would normally kill a human being! thanks to a miraculous ability to repair numerous DNA double-strand breaks in a matter of hours,
meet Deinococcus radiodurans which is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the world’s toughest bacterium,” “Its DNA is highly damaged at 1.7 million rads,” Michael Daly of Montana State University-Bozeman told Science Daily. “Its DNA is all chopped up. There are between 1,000 and 2,000 DNA fragments per cell, but they’re all fixed in about 24 hours.” The remarkable ability of deinococcus radiodurans to withstand in extreme environments and then repair itself has been extensively studied by biologists and scientists, in the hopes of adapting this mechanism to humans, to help them better resist radiation exposure and also to handle toxic waste, it is regarded by many as the most resistant organism ever discovered. Its many nicknames include “Super Bug” and “Conan the Bacterium.” amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment