Cientistas descobrem por acidente bactéria que come metal

Bactéria descoberta por pesquisadores dos EUA se alimenta de manganês Hang Yu / Caltech

Pesquisadores do Instituto de Tecnologia da Califórnia, nos EUA, publicaram na revista Nature um estudo que comprovou a existência de uma bactérias comedoras de metal.

Anteriormente, estudiosos sabiam de bactérias e fungos que poderiam oxidar o manganês ou remover elétrons. No entanto, existiam especulações sobre um microrganismo que poderia ser capaz de aproveitar esse processo para impulsionar seu crescimento.

Veja também

“Essas são as primeiras bactérias encontradas a usar manganês como fonte de energia”, diz Jared Leadbetter, professor de microbiologia ambiental do Instituto de Tecnologia da Califórnia.

A Leadbetter descobriu a bactéria Candidatus Manganitrophus noduliformans por acaso, após deixar um pote de vidro com uma espécie de giz de manganês embebido em água da torneira por vários meses, durante uma viagem a trabalho. Quando retornou do período em que ficou fora, o frasco estava coberto por um material escuro.

Vários série de testes foram realizados e os pesquisadores concluíram que o revestimento preto era manganês oxidado gerado por bactérias que provavelmente tinham vindo da própria água da torneira.

“Há evidências de que parentes dessas criaturas residem nas águas subterrâneas, e uma parte da água potável de Pasadena é bombeada de aquíferos locais”, diz Leadbetter.

A descoberta pode ajudar a entender melhor a geoquímica das águas subterrâneas. Sabe-se que as bactérias podem degradar poluentes nessas águas, um processo chamado biorremediação.

O estudo também revela que as bactérias podem usar manganês para converter dióxido de carbono em biomassa, um processo chamado quimiossíntese.

Assista também:

Cientistas austríacos fazem planta de 32 mil anos voltar a florescer

Este texto foi publicado primeiro em http://noticias.r7.com/tecnologia-e-ciencia/cientistas-descobrem-por-acidente-bacteria-que-come-metal-20072020

Via RSS publicado em https://vitorolig.tumblr.com/post/624233524406419456

Postagens mais visitadas deste blog

Duke Kahanamoku reflects on surfing, Olympics, and old Hawaii in 1966 interview

Duke Kahanamoku is the most influential surfer of all time and is often hailed as the father of modern surfing. There is nearly no one questioning these titles. Recently, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Hawaii unveiled a never-before-seen interview with the legendary surfer and Olympic swimmer. In the 1966 episode of Pau Hana Years, a seminal Hawaii television program that aired on KHET-TV (now PBS Hawaii) for 16 years, running from 1966 until 1982, Bob Barker chats with Duke Kahanamoku, then 76. The conversation drifts from royal ancestry to Olympic lanes, from Hollywood sets to a surfboard shaped by hand, tracing the outline of a life that helped define modern surfing and Hawaii's public image in the 20th century. And if you know little about the man who dreamed of getting surfing into the Olympic Games, this is a precious piece of history. A name with history, worn casually The interview starts with Kahanamoku explaining that "Duke" is not a title but his giv...

The hydrodynamics of surfboard fins

Have you ever wondered why a surfboard fin looks like that? It is a single or a set of fixed blades or keels located under a board, near the tail, often no bigger than a hand. Yet that small surface is where much of the surfboard's behavior takes place. Speed, hold, looseness, and the feeling of control all trace back to how water moves around fins. The physics of surfboard fins falls under hydrodynamics, the study of how fluids behave in motion. So, according to science, they feature a shape designed to turn flowing water into several forces. Let's take a look at what's at stake when fins and water interact. Lift and the feeling of control One of the key variables in hydrodynamic terms involving surfboard fins is lift. When a surfer leans into a turn, the board tilts and the fins meet the water at an angle. The angle is enough to create a pressure difference between the two sides of the fin. Water speeds up on one side and slows on the other. The result is a sidewa...

How paddleboarding transforms your body and mind

Adventure is on our doorstep. With so many different bodies of water available to paddleboarders, from city canals to coastal routes, we can find adventure in places much closer to home than people might initially expect. According to the Canal and River Trust, 50 percent of people in England and Wales live within just eight kilometers of a canal or river, and eight million people live less than one kilometer away. I had lived within just a few kilometers of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal for years and never really explored it before stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) came into my life . The challenge created both a new perspective and a deeper love for where I lived and the areas which I passed through. On my coast-to-coast journey, I slept in my own bed for two nights as the route passed through my then hometown of Skipton, yet I felt I was on a grand journey of discovery. We are braver, stronger, and more resilient than we think. SUP not only helps us feel more connected to our va...

Vitor Oliveira

Pesquisar este blog