C. metallidurans can produce small gold nuggets. Credit: American Society for Microbiology
High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures. This is not the case for the bacterium C. metallidurans, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. One interesting side-effect: the formation of tiny gold nuggets. A team of researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Adelaide in Australia has discovered the molecular processes that take place inside the bacteria.
The rod-shaped bacterium C. metallidurans primarily lives in soils that are enriched with numerous heavy metals...
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