The bacteria that creates gold

October 5, 2012

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Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered a bacterium that can produce gold, to be resistant to a huge amount of toxicity, making nuggets of 24 carats.

Those responsible for this discovery are professor of microbiology and molecular genetics Kazem Kashefi and associate professor of electronic art Adam Brown.

“We’re doing ‘microbial alchemy’-transformation to gold-worthless”, said the experts, who noted that Cupriadvidus metallidurans bacteria are able to feed with gold chloride and after a week of “digesting” the “waste” excreted happens to be the precious metal.

Scientists have fed these bacteria with gold chloride and after a week, the toxins are transformed into nuggets, mimicking what happens in nature.