That doesn't surprise me too much. I work in a Yeast lab and you'd be surprised what they will grow on in terms of nitrogen/carbon sources. All
they really need is something that will oxidize and looks vaguely biological.
As far as citric acid goes this bit of wikipedia should explain it. Essentially, it's used in the citric acid cycle as the citrate ion. It's a pretty direct shot from
there to ATP.
What's surprising to me is the Cu resistance at that high concentrations. Generally odd metal ions make cells quite unhappy. It's not known quite
why, but they can interfere with essential ions in enzymes, catalyze unwanted reactions in cells and a whole host of stuff like that.
I suppose not everything would be knocked out by copper. Who knows, maybe that particular strain used to live on a pile of mine tailings!
If you want to keep it safe I'd try to dry it out as best you can or use a solvent other than water.
Luck!
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