TY - JOUR
T1 - Ionizing radiation
T2 - how fungi cope, adapt, and exploit with the help of melanin
AU - Dadachova, Ekaterina
AU - Casadevall, Arturo
N1 - Funding Information:
E Dadachova is supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) grant AI60507; A Casadevall is supported by NIAID grants AI033142 and AI033774.
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - Life on Earth has always existed in the flux of ionizing radiation. However, fungi seem to interact with the ionizing radiation differently from other inhabitants of the Earth. Recent data show that melanized fungal species like those from Chernobyl's reactor respond to ionizing radiation with enhanced growth. Fungi colonize space stations and adapt morphologically to extreme conditions. Radiation exposure causes upregulation of many key genes, and an inducible microhomology-mediated recombination pathway could be a potential mechanism of adaptive evolution in eukaryotes. The discovery of melanized organisms in high radiation environments, the space stations, Antarctic mountains, and in the reactor cooling water combined with phenomenon of 'radiotropism' raises the tantalizing possibility that melanins have functions analogous to other energy harvesting pigments such as chlorophylls.
AB - Life on Earth has always existed in the flux of ionizing radiation. However, fungi seem to interact with the ionizing radiation differently from other inhabitants of the Earth. Recent data show that melanized fungal species like those from Chernobyl's reactor respond to ionizing radiation with enhanced growth. Fungi colonize space stations and adapt morphologically to extreme conditions. Radiation exposure causes upregulation of many key genes, and an inducible microhomology-mediated recombination pathway could be a potential mechanism of adaptive evolution in eukaryotes. The discovery of melanized organisms in high radiation environments, the space stations, Antarctic mountains, and in the reactor cooling water combined with phenomenon of 'radiotropism' raises the tantalizing possibility that melanins have functions analogous to other energy harvesting pigments such as chlorophylls.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=56949096743&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=56949096743&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.mib.2008.09.013
DO - 10.1016/j.mib.2008.09.013
M3 - Review article
C2 - 18848901
AN - SCOPUS:56949096743
SN - 1369-5274
VL - 11
SP - 525
EP - 531
JO - Current Opinion in Microbiology
JF - Current Opinion in Microbiology
IS - 6
ER -