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The Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium is very fascinating. Its name means “strange berry that resists radiation”, and it is a very fitting name, as D. radiodurans can withstand up to 5,000 GYs of radiation. Humans can only survive about 4 GYs of radiation. D. radiodurans is not the only organism that can resist such high doses of radiation. Other bacteria, some archaea, and the invertebrate animal the tardigrade, can all withstand extremely high levels of radiation. High doses of radiation cause a large number of double-stranded breaks in the DNA. D. radiodurans has multiple copies of its genome, so even if one gene is damaged, there is a back-up available. D. radiodurans is also able to segregate damaged DNA from other parts of the genome for repair. It is not known why D. radiodurans would have evolved a mechanism to survive such extreme radiation. Some evidence, however, suggests that the mechanism was meant to help protect the bacterium from severe dehydration.


Like many things in our environment, D. radiodurans has been used by humans. The D. radiodurans bacterium can be engineered to digest heavy metals and solvents, and is able to do so even in highly radioactive areas, making a helpful agent in bioremediation. D. radiodurans has even been considered as a means to store information that can be passed on in case of a nuclear catastrophe. Scientists were successfully able to have D. radiodurans store the information for the song “It’s a Small World.” However, each strain of bacteria could only hold a small amount of information. Many strains were engineered, and maintained separately. This means that D. radiodurans may not be a very practical method of storing information.