Conan the Bacterium Resistant to Radiation in Cancer Research

The disparity has nothing to do with how bacteria protect their DNA, as most researchers had thought. Instead, according to a new study, what matters is how they shield their proteins. The insight challenges conventional understanding of radiation damage, hints at new ways to cleanup radioactive waste, and offers the hope of safer forms of radiation therapy. If there's a superhero of the bacterial world, it's Deinococcus radiodurans. The bacterium's name--roughly translated as "strange berry that withstands radiation"--says it all: The bug can survive doses of radiation up to 10,000 Grays (Gy)--a level lethal to other bacteria and indeed most cells in general.

Typically, cultures of Deinococcus (sometimes called “Conan the Bacterium”) can withstand up to a million Rads (10,000 Grays) of ionizing radiation, roughly 2000 times the LD50 for humans.

... Dubbed “Conan the Bacterium” for its extraordinary ability to tolerate the harshest of conditions, Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand radiation doses thousands of times higher than what would kill a human — and every other organism, ...

In earlier studies, other researchers discovered Deinococcus radiodurans can survive 25,000 grays (or units of x- and gamma-rays). But, in their 2022 study, Hoffman and Daly found that the bacterium — when dried and frozen — could weather 140,000 grays of radiation, a dose 28,000 times ...

A groundbreaking study from Brian Hoffman's lab uncovers the antioxidant that enables Deinococcus radiodurans to survive radiation doses 28,000 times higher than lethal levels for humans.

Daly has studied Deinococcus radiodurans for decades and is a co-author on the paper. The researchers hope this that with this new understanding of Conan the Bacterium's resistance to radioactivity, "better" might eventually mean innovations to protect humans from radiation while exploring ...

A type of bacteria dubbed “Conan the Bacterium” can withstand radiation thousands of times stronger than what can kill a human. Now, scientists have figured out why.

In 2016, Massimiliano Peana et al. reported a spectroscopic study through NMR, EPR, and ESI-MS techniques on the Mn(II) interaction with two peptides, DP1 (DEHGTAVMLK) and DP2 (THMVLAKGED), whose amino acid composition was selected to include the majority of the most prevalent amino acids present in a Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium cell-free extract that contains components capable of conferring extreme resistance to ionizing radiation.

(CNN – Ashley Strickland) — ... ability to survive the harshest of extremes, can withstand radiation doses 28,000 times greater than those that would kill a human being — and the secret to its success is rooted in an ...