Bioassociation studies with microorganisms, plant cells, plants, and fungi

The interaction of radionuclides, such as actinides, with microorganisms, plants or fungi is studied in bioassociation experiments to improve the understanding of these processes on a molecular and cellular level. For this, cell cultures, plants or fungi are exposed to actinides or lanthanides as their non-radioactive analogs under controlled conditions (e.g., aerobic/anaerobic, temperature, light, humidity) as a function of various experimental parameters (e.g., pH, metal ion concentration, absence or presence of organic substances). By combining analytical techniques with modern state of the art spectroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, molecular biological, and calorimetric methods, the localization, speciation, and toxicity of actinides and lanthanides in the biological system as well as their uptake mechanisms and impact on metabolic processes are investigated.