Hydrothermal vents can have thriving communities, despite being too deep for much light to penetrate. Microbes can derive energy from chemicals coming out of the vent, and form the foundation of the food chain. But toxic heavy metals also come out of the vent, including lead, mercury, and cadmium.
The microbes in this study were found to be resistant to cadmium, which they can detoxify by combining it with the sulfur found in the amino acid cysteine. This forms cadmium-sulfur nanoparticles, which can function as light-absorbing semiconductors, allowing the bacteria to harvest light energy.
Ma N, Sha Z, Sun C. 2021.
. Environ Microbiol 23:934–948.
