| Deinococcus radiodurans | |
|---|---|
| |
| A tetrad of D. radiodurans | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Bacteria |
| Phylum: | Deinococcota |
| Class: | Deinococci |
| Order: | Deinococcales |
| Family: | Deinococcaceae |
| Genus: | Deinococcus |
| Species: | D. radiodurans
|
| Binomial name | |
| Deinococcus radiodurans Brooks & Murray, 1981
| |
Look up Deinococcus or radiodurans in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Deinococcus radiodurans is a bacterium, an extremophile and one of the most radiation-resistant organisms known. It can survive cold, dehydration, vacuum, and acid, and therefore is known as a polyextremophile. The Guinness Book Of World Records listed it in January 1998[1] as the world's most radiation-resistant bacterium or lifeform.[2] However the archaea Thermococcus gammatolerans is actually the most resistant organism to radiation.
- ^ "Most radiation-resistant lifeform". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015.
The red-coloured bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans can resist 1.5 million rads of gamma radiation, about 3,000 times the amount that would kill a human. The bacteria was first isolated from cans of meat that were subjected to supposedly sterilising doses of radiation in the megarad range.
- ^ DeWeerdt, Sarah E. (July 5, 2002). "The World's Toughest Bacterium". Genome News Network. The Center for the Advancement of Genomics. Archived from the original on May 6, 2003.
Deinococcus radiodurans is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's toughest bacterium."