Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice
Atmospheric deposition of mercury onto sea ice and circumpolar sea water provides mercury for microbial methylation, and contributes to the bioaccumulation of the potent neurotoxin methylmercury in the marine food web. Little is known about the abiotic and biotic controls on microbial mercury methyl...
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ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:189957 2023-05-15T13:52:36+02:00 Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice Gionfriddo, Caitlin M. Tate, Michael T. Wick, Ryan R. Schultz, Mark B. Zemla, Adam Thelen, Michael P. Schofield, Robyn Krabbenhoft, David P. Holt, Kathryn E. Moreau, John W. 2016-10 http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/189957/ unknown Nature Publishing Group Gionfriddo, C. M., Tate, M. T., Wick, R. R., Schultz, M. B., Zemla, A., Thelen, M. P., Schofield, R., Krabbenhoft, D. P., Holt, K. E. and Moreau, J. W. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/51704.html> (2016) Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice. Nature Microbiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Nature_Microbiology.html>, 1(10), 16127. (doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127>) (PMID:27670112) Articles PeerReviewed 2016 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127 2021-10-07T22:11:37Z Atmospheric deposition of mercury onto sea ice and circumpolar sea water provides mercury for microbial methylation, and contributes to the bioaccumulation of the potent neurotoxin methylmercury in the marine food web. Little is known about the abiotic and biotic controls on microbial mercury methylation in polar marine systems. However, mercury methylation is known to occur alongside photochemical and microbial mercury reduction and subsequent volatilization. Here, we combine mercury speciation measurements of total and methylated mercury with metagenomic analysis of whole-community microbial DNA from Antarctic snow, brine, sea ice and sea water to elucidate potential microbially mediated mercury methylation and volatilization pathways in polar marine environments. Our results identify the marine microaerophilic bacterium Nitrospina as a potential mercury methylator within sea ice. Anaerobic bacteria known to methylate mercury were notably absent from sea-ice metagenomes. We propose that Antarctic sea ice can harbour a microbial source of methylmercury in the Southern Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Antarctic Southern Ocean Nature Microbiology 1 10 |
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University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
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description |
Atmospheric deposition of mercury onto sea ice and circumpolar sea water provides mercury for microbial methylation, and contributes to the bioaccumulation of the potent neurotoxin methylmercury in the marine food web. Little is known about the abiotic and biotic controls on microbial mercury methylation in polar marine systems. However, mercury methylation is known to occur alongside photochemical and microbial mercury reduction and subsequent volatilization. Here, we combine mercury speciation measurements of total and methylated mercury with metagenomic analysis of whole-community microbial DNA from Antarctic snow, brine, sea ice and sea water to elucidate potential microbially mediated mercury methylation and volatilization pathways in polar marine environments. Our results identify the marine microaerophilic bacterium Nitrospina as a potential mercury methylator within sea ice. Anaerobic bacteria known to methylate mercury were notably absent from sea-ice metagenomes. We propose that Antarctic sea ice can harbour a microbial source of methylmercury in the Southern Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gionfriddo, Caitlin M. Tate, Michael T. Wick, Ryan R. Schultz, Mark B. Zemla, Adam Thelen, Michael P. Schofield, Robyn Krabbenhoft, David P. Holt, Kathryn E. Moreau, John W. |
spellingShingle |
Gionfriddo, Caitlin M. Tate, Michael T. Wick, Ryan R. Schultz, Mark B. Zemla, Adam Thelen, Michael P. Schofield, Robyn Krabbenhoft, David P. Holt, Kathryn E. Moreau, John W. Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
author_facet |
Gionfriddo, Caitlin M. Tate, Michael T. Wick, Ryan R. Schultz, Mark B. Zemla, Adam Thelen, Michael P. Schofield, Robyn Krabbenhoft, David P. Holt, Kathryn E. Moreau, John W. |
author_sort |
Gionfriddo, Caitlin M. |
title |
Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
title_short |
Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
title_full |
Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice |
title_sort |
microbial mercury methylation in antarctic sea ice |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/189957/ |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
Gionfriddo, C. M., Tate, M. T., Wick, R. R., Schultz, M. B., Zemla, A., Thelen, M. P., Schofield, R., Krabbenhoft, D. P., Holt, K. E. and Moreau, J. W. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/51704.html> (2016) Microbial mercury methylation in Antarctic sea ice. Nature Microbiology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Nature_Microbiology.html>, 1(10), 16127. (doi:10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127>) (PMID:27670112) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.127 |
container_title |
Nature Microbiology |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
10 |
_version_ |
1766257021322002432 |