| 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!. As a consequence of its hardiness it has been nicknamed Conan the Bacterium after Conan the Barbarian; its official 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.
Currently 8 species are classified in genus Deinococcus, all of them extremophiles.