A metal-gobbling bacteria manages to ingest toxic metallic compounds and still thrive, producing tiny gold nuggets as a side-effect, scientists have found. High concentrations of heavy metals, like copper and gold, are toxic for most living creatures, researchers said.
However, that is not the case for the bacterium C metallidurans, found in soils enriched with heavy metals, which has found a way to extract valuable trace elements from a compound of heavy metals without poisoning itself. The bacteria produces tiny gold nuggets as a side-effect, according to the study published in the journal Metallomics .
A team of researchers from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany has discovered the molecular processes that take place inside the bacteria.
It transforms toxic gold particles into harmless gold particles, researchers said.
