Deinococcus radiodurans
| Deinococcus radiodurans | ||||||||||||||
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| Deinococcus radiodurans |
Deinococcus radiodurans is an extremophile, and the most radiation-resistant organism known. It can survive heat, cold, vacuum, even acid!. It's sometimes referred to as Conan The Bacterium; its name literally means "strange berry that withstands radiation".
D. radiodurans was discovered in 1956 at the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Corvallis, Oregon. It is classified in the family Deinococcaceae, which also contains the genus Deinobacter. Deinococcus is gram-positive, Deinobacter is gram-negative. Both genera are aerobic, and produce pink to reddish colonies.