Radiotrophic fungi are fungi which appear to use the pigment melanin to convert gamma radiation into chemical energy for growth.
This proposed mechanism may be similar to anabolic pathways for the synthesis of reduced organic carbon in phototrophic organisms, which capture photons from visible light with pigments such as chlorophyll whose energy is then used in photolysis of water to generate usable chemical energy.
These were first discovered in 2007 as black molds growing inside and around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine showed that three melanin-containing fungi, increased in biomass and accumulated acetate faster in an environment in which the radiation level was 500 times higher than in the normal environment.