Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions
The contamination of polar regions with mercury that is transported from lower latitudes as inorganic mercury has resulted in the accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in food chains, risking the health of humans and wildlife. While production of MeHg has been documented in polar marine and terrestri...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2011
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 https://doaj.org/article/ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad 2023-05-15T17:57:53+02:00 Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions Niels Kroer Alexandre J. Poulain Tamar Barkay 2011-12-01 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 https://doaj.org/article/ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad en eng Norwegian Polar Institute doi:10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 0800-0395 1751-8369 https://doaj.org/article/ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad undefined Polar Research, Vol 30, Iss 0, Pp 1-15 (2011) Microbiology mercury biogeochemistry redox transformations polar regions methylation geo demo Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2011 fttriple https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 2023-01-22T18:10:42Z The contamination of polar regions with mercury that is transported from lower latitudes as inorganic mercury has resulted in the accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in food chains, risking the health of humans and wildlife. While production of MeHg has been documented in polar marine and terrestrial environments, little is known about the responsible transformations and transport pathways and the processes that control them. We posit that as in temperate environments, microbial transformations play a key role in mercury geochemical cycling in polar regions by: (1) methylating mercury by one of four proposed pathways, some not previously described; (2) degrading MeHg by activities of mercury resistant and other bacteria; and (3) carrying out redox transformations that control the supply of the mercuric ion, the substrate of methylation reactions. Recent analyses have identified a high potential for mercury-resistant microbes that express the enzyme mercuric reductase to affect the production of gaseous elemental mercury when and where daylight is limited. The integration of microbially mediated processes in the paradigms that describe mercury geochemical cycling is therefore of high priority especially in light of concerns regarding the effect of global warming and permafrost thawing on input of MeHg to polar regions. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost Polar Research Unknown Polar Research 30 1 15469 |
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Open Polar |
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fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
Microbiology mercury biogeochemistry redox transformations polar regions methylation geo demo |
spellingShingle |
Microbiology mercury biogeochemistry redox transformations polar regions methylation geo demo Niels Kroer Alexandre J. Poulain Tamar Barkay Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
topic_facet |
Microbiology mercury biogeochemistry redox transformations polar regions methylation geo demo |
description |
The contamination of polar regions with mercury that is transported from lower latitudes as inorganic mercury has resulted in the accumulation of methylmercury (MeHg) in food chains, risking the health of humans and wildlife. While production of MeHg has been documented in polar marine and terrestrial environments, little is known about the responsible transformations and transport pathways and the processes that control them. We posit that as in temperate environments, microbial transformations play a key role in mercury geochemical cycling in polar regions by: (1) methylating mercury by one of four proposed pathways, some not previously described; (2) degrading MeHg by activities of mercury resistant and other bacteria; and (3) carrying out redox transformations that control the supply of the mercuric ion, the substrate of methylation reactions. Recent analyses have identified a high potential for mercury-resistant microbes that express the enzyme mercuric reductase to affect the production of gaseous elemental mercury when and where daylight is limited. The integration of microbially mediated processes in the paradigms that describe mercury geochemical cycling is therefore of high priority especially in light of concerns regarding the effect of global warming and permafrost thawing on input of MeHg to polar regions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Niels Kroer Alexandre J. Poulain Tamar Barkay |
author_facet |
Niels Kroer Alexandre J. Poulain Tamar Barkay |
author_sort |
Niels Kroer |
title |
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
title_short |
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
title_full |
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
title_fullStr |
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
title_sort |
some like it cold: microbial transformations of mercury in polar regions |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 https://doaj.org/article/ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad |
genre |
permafrost Polar Research |
genre_facet |
permafrost Polar Research |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 30, Iss 0, Pp 1-15 (2011) |
op_relation |
doi:10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 0800-0395 1751-8369 https://doaj.org/article/ea17b4a4c5a045e6a679e4eb68175aad |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.15469 |
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Polar Research |
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30 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
15469 |
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1766166398933925888 |