Organism with the greatest amount of gold as percentage of body mass
Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans can gain metabolic energy by utilizing gold thiosulphate complexes (Reith et al., 2007); Micrococcus luteus can oxidize methane to methanol using gold-containing enzyme (Levchenko et al., 2002).

However, for most organisms, gold is toxic (Wietkiewicz &amp; Shaw, 1981); some bacteria actively detoxify gold: Cupriavidus (Ralstonia, Wautersia) metallidurans, Desulfotomaculum sp., Desulfovibrio sp., Hyphomonas adhaerens, Plectonema boryanum, Pseudomonas aeruginosa Salmonella enterica,  Shewanella algae, Spirulina platensis (Reith et al., 2007).



Reith F, Lengke MF, Falconer D, Craw D, Southam G (2007) The geomicrobiology of gold. ISME J. 1: 567-584.

Levchenko LA, Sadkov AP, Lariontseva NV, Koldasheva EM, Shilova AK, Shilov AE. (2002) Gold helps bacteria to oxidize methane. J Inorg Biochem 88: 251-253.

Witkiewicz  PL &amp;  Shaw CF III (1981) Oxidative cleavage of peptide and protein disulphide bonds by gold(III): a mechanism for gold toxicity. J Chem Soc Chem Commun 21: 1111–1114.