http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112134318.htm
According to Geoffrey Gadd, a researcher at the University of Dundee, "The idea that fungi and other microbes may attack it and change its form is quite unexpected." The heavy metal, lead, is an important structural and industrial material that becomes harmful when leaked into the environment. This can cause people to be poisoned either through the water or through the plants. In the research I am doing on heavy metals in plants, one of the metals we are using is lead, the plants that grow in lead actually grow well. This can cause most people to think that the plant they are eating is healthy, but actually has lead that can cause their brain to shut down in painful ways. According to the researchers the they "carefully examined lead shot after it had been incubated with and without fungi. In the presence of fungi, the lead shot began to show evidence of pyromorphite formation after one month's time. That stable lead-containing mineral continued to increase in abundance with time. Minerals found on the surface of lead shot incubated without fungi represented less stable forms as a result of normal corrosion." It is said that not all species of fungus can transform the lead, but their are many that can. The researchers next steps are to find out why the fungus can transform the lead and to find ways to use it to rid of lead poisoning in the environment.
The findings reported online on January 12 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.
According to Geoffrey Gadd, a researcher at the University of Dundee, "The idea that fungi and other microbes may attack it and change its form is quite unexpected." The heavy metal, lead, is an important structural and industrial material that becomes harmful when leaked into the environment. This can cause people to be poisoned either through the water or through the plants. In the research I am doing on heavy metals in plants, one of the metals we are using is lead, the plants that grow in lead actually grow well. This can cause most people to think that the plant they are eating is healthy, but actually has lead that can cause their brain to shut down in painful ways. According to the researchers the they "carefully examined lead shot after it had been incubated with and without fungi. In the presence of fungi, the lead shot began to show evidence of pyromorphite formation after one month's time. That stable lead-containing mineral continued to increase in abundance with time. Minerals found on the surface of lead shot incubated without fungi represented less stable forms as a result of normal corrosion." It is said that not all species of fungus can transform the lead, but their are many that can. The researchers next steps are to find out why the fungus can transform the lead and to find ways to use it to rid of lead poisoning in the environment.
The findings reported online on January 12 in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.
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