Center for Global Security and Cooperation, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA.
Center for Monitoring Systems and Technology, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 15;12(1):12142. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-16063-z.
Melanin-containing fungi (black molds) have the capacity to thrive under extreme environmental conditions such as the elevated radiation levels inside the former Chernobyl reactors. These fungi have been hypothesized to grow toward and use gamma radiation as an energy source, but the literature does not clearly address which energies of the electromagnetic spectrum, if any, positively affect fungal growth. The goal of this work was to characterize the response of non-melanized and melanized fungi to two distinct electromagnetic wavelengths, i.e., ultraviolet (UV) and gamma ray, keeping absorption and other potentially confounding variables constant. Exposure to UV or gamma radiation induced significant changes in fungi pigmentation, but not growth rate of Cladosporium cladosporioides and Paecilomyces variotii. Specifically, increased pigmentation of both fungi was observed in samples exposed to UV, while decreased pigmentation was observed for gamma-irradiated samples. These results provide new insights into the role of electromagnetic energies on growth of fungi and provide an impetus to examine additional energies and types of radiation to develop a fundamental understanding of this phenomenon.
含黑色素的真菌（黑霉菌）具有在极端环境条件下茁壮成长的能力，例如在前切尔诺贝利反应堆内的高辐射水平。这些真菌被假设为向伽马辐射生长并将其用作能源，但文献并未明确说明电磁光谱的哪些能量（如果有的话）会对真菌生长产生积极影响。这项工作的目的是描述非黑色素和黑色素真菌对两种不同电磁波长（即紫外线 (UV) 和伽马射线）的反应，同时保持吸收和其他潜在的混杂变量不变。暴露于紫外线或伽马射线会导致真菌色素沉着发生明显变化，但不会影响枝孢菌和多形拟青霉的生长速度。具体而言，在暴露于紫外线的样品中观察到两种真菌的色素沉着增加，而在伽马辐照的样品中观察到色素沉着减少。这些结果为电磁能对真菌生长的作用提供了新的见解，并促使我们进一步研究其他能量和类型的辐射，以深入了解这一现象。
