Super Bug

Meet Deinococcus Radiodurans (RD) - toughest organism, a super bug, believe to be two billion years old; it is one of the earliest forms of life on earth. It is a bacterium - a lowly form of life. DR is a remarkable organism. Dry it, dehydrate it for along period, DR will pop back to life. Burn it with high doses of ultra violet radiation, it will survive. Cook it with 15,000 gray rays of gamma radiations, (a radiation dose of five gray will kill a man), DR will shrug it off and live comfortably thereafter. Let us try the ultimate assault, an atomic blast, chances are that DR will survive and rise from ashes.

Currently, the life of DR is being scrutinized in several laboratories as the study of DR might benefit as in many ways. Scientist identified the pink bacterium in a can of meat in 1956. The survival tactics of DR habe been intriguing. The scientist observed some thing unique in them. DR seems to have thousands of genes that help it clean up any damage caused by a radiation to its DNA in few hours. The clever arrangement is to throw out the damaged part of the cell potentially preventing them from getting in to the genome. About 500 to 1000 unique genes appear to enable it to withstand radiation.