Mycological gold redox transformation

Microbial contributions to the biogeochemical cycling of gold have been proposed. However, studies primarily focus on the influence of prokaryotes on gold reduction and precipitation through a detoxification-oriented mechanism. Here, we use geochemical, microbiological, metagenomic, and photoelectron-based analyses to show that fungi, a major driver of mineral bio-weathering, can initiate gold oxidation under Earth surface conditions.