History
D. radiodurans was discovered in 1956 by Arthur W. Anderson at the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station in Corvallis, Oregon. Experiments were being performed to determine if canned food could be sterilized using high doses of gamma radiation. A tin of meat was exposed to a dose of radiation that was thought to kill all known forms of life, but the meat subsequently spoiled, and D. radiodurans was isolated.
The complete DNA sequence of D. radiodurans was published in 1999 by TIGR. A detailed annotation and analysis of the genome appeared in 2001. The sequenced strain was ATCC BAA-816.
Deinococcus radiodurans has a unique quality in which it can repair both single- and double-stranded DNA. When a mutation is apparent to the cell, it brings it into a compartmental ring-like structure, where the DNA is repaired and then is able to fuse the nucleoids from the outside of the compartment with the damaged DNA.
Read more about this topic: Deinococcus Radiodurans
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