Ethiene Castellucci Estevam, Sharoon Griffin, Muhammad Jawad Nasim, Polina Denezhkin, Ramona Schneider, Rainer Lilischkis, Enrique Dominguez-Alvarez, Karolina Witek, Gniewomir Latacz, Cornelia Keck, Karl-Herbert Schäfer, Katarzyna Kieć-Kononowicz, Jadwiga Handzlik, Claus Jacob
Various bacteria, including diverse Staphylococci, reduce selenite to yield red selenium particles with diameters in the high nanometer to low micrometer range. Formation and accumulation of such particles in bacteria often results in cell death, triggered by a loss of thiols and formation of disruptive deposits inside the cell. Hence certain pathogenic bacteria are rather sensitive to the presence of selenite, whilst other organisms, such as small nematodes, do not employ this kind of nanotechnology, yet become affected by micromolar concentrations of such naturally generated materials...
February 15, 2017: Journal of Hazardous Materials