Talented fungus for cleaning up depleted uranium
Gaberlunzie admits a fascination with the natural world lowtech spinoffs for hightech uses, from beetles providing the template for photonic crystals to slime secreted by algae embedded in special bioreactors bind metal contaminated water to photosynthetic bacteria capable of f converting or organic acids and alcohols into methane with low levels of light energy input. Now a common backyard fungi gets the accolade for being able to handle depleted uranium.
Long after the war has stopped, radioactive dust particles dispersed by exploding depleted uranium (DU) artillery and tank shells leave a contemporary battlefield as a dangerous place - with little hope of decontamination. Now Dundee University researchers discover that mycorhizal fungi may be the key to cleaning and reclaiming DU-contaminated soil in places like Iraq and Bosnia.
The team found that free-living and plant symbiotic (mycorrhizal) fungi can colonise DU metallic surfaces and geochemically transform them into uranyl phosphate minerals, stabilising the uranium, reports a study in the journal Current Biology.
"The fungal-produced minerals are capable of long-term uranium retention, so this may help prevent uptake of uranium by plants, animals, and microbes," says Professor Geoffrey Gadd, leader of Dundee's research team. "It might also prevent the spent uranium from leaching out from the soil," he said.
Although less radioactive, DU fallout has the same chemotoxicity as uranium-235 posing threats to humans that include nerve damage, 'kidney toxicity' and lung cancer. And it can stay around for decades. Fungi cleanup would be very low-tech, Gadd told New Scientist. Just add moisture and nutrients to the soil, which helps the fungi to flourish.
"You can go to just about any soil, and you'd find fungi that would lock away uranium," he said. "You could literally pick them from your own back garden."
Source: http://news.cnet.com/