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Fungus eats radiation for breakfast

dark mushroom

A relative of this dark mushroom soaks up ionising radiation, using it as an energy source and spurring growth (Image: iStockphoto)(Source: iStockphoto)

A type of fungus can devour radiation and convert it to fuel, researchers say in a study that may offer applications from more efficient solar cells to feeding astronauts in space.

The researchers report their study in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

Dark-coloured fungi use the same compound as people do, melanin, the pigment that makes both skin and truffles dark.

"Just as the pigment chlorophyll converts sunlight into chemical energy that allows green plants to live and grow, our research suggests that melanin can use a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, ionising radiation," says Dr Ekaterina Dadachova of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Dr Arturo Casadevall, chair of microbiology and immunology at the college, says there may be further implications.


Their experiment was fairly simple.

Casadevall was reading about fungi found growing in and around the reactor at Chernobyl, closed and heavily contaminated by an accident in 1986.

"It gave us the idea that maybe fungi use melanin to harness radiation," Casadevall says.

So they grew some fungi, some types with melanin and others without, and zapped them with gamma radiation.

Among the fungi they tested were Cryptococcus neoformans, which was induced to make melanin, and Wangiella dermatitidis, which naturally contains it.

The dark fungi grew better when radiated.

The researchers also tested the fungi's ability to capture radiation, by looking at its electron structure.

"It raises the possibility that there are pigments out there that allow us to capture a lot of energy," Casadevall says.

Life without sunlight

Scientists have discovered life in recent years that does not rely on the Sun: sulfur-eating bacteria and extremophiles that live deep beneath the sea or under Antarctic ice.

Perhaps fungi can live in seemingly inhospitable places as well, says Casadevall, so long as there is some radiation.

"It shows you how nature is resilient and resourceful. Nature can use an energy source wherever it can find it."

Food for astronauts

Perhaps radiation-loving fungi could serve as a source of food for astronauts living in space for long periods, the researchers speculate.

"Fungi do very well in dark damp places and you could imagine that space is totally radioactive," Casadevall says.

Casadevall says scientists should be able to adapt such pigments for various uses.

His lab will test fungi against a range of electromagnetic radiation, from ultraviolet light to visible light.

They will also test species of edible fungi, including mushrooms.

Tags: environment, ecology