signature=f741c0a0e63ad68c07bf200535c21731,Mercury methylation by sulfate-reducing bacteria and iron...

摘要：

Methyl mercury is a toxic compound that bioaccumulates in aquatic food chains. The microbial conversion of divalent mercury to methyl mercury occurs primarily in anoxic sediments, and over the past 20 years this transformation has been inferred to be associated almost exclusively with sulfate-reducing bacteria. In mercury-impacted sediments from Clear Lake, (CA), it has been shown that a specific inhibitor for dissimilatory sulfate-reduction (molybdate) inhibited roughly half of total sediment mercury methylation. The first iron-reducing bacterium (Geobacter sp. strain CLFeRB) isolated from these sediments could methylate divalent mercury at rates equivalent to the well characterized methylator, Desulfobulbus propionicus 1pr3. This Geobacter strain is the first example of mercury methylation at environmentally significant rates by an organism other than a sulfate-reducing bacterium. Together, these results suggest that at least part of the residual methylation in Clear Lake sediments inhibited by molybdate is due to iron-reducing bacteria.;Sulfate reduction in mercury-impacted, iron-rich marine sediments (Walker Marsh, CA) incubated under anoxic conditions in O2-resistant bags was fully inhibited by 3 mM molybdate, 10of the concentration typically used by others for marine systems. In otherwise identical incubations that were supplemented with 0.5 ppm divalent mercury, methylation was again reduced to approximately half of the rate in incubations lacking molybdate. The possibility that this remaining methylation was dues to fermentative sulfate-reducing bacteria was considered, but D. propionicus under fermentative conditions was also fully inhibited by 2 mM molybdate. Together these data suggest that molybdate-insensitive production of methyl mercury was due to one or more other metabolically defined bacterial groups. Based on the biogeochemistry of sediments in Walker-Marsh iron-reducing bacteria or obligate fermenters are likely candidates.;In general surveys mercury contamination was observed in mine-impacted sediments from: Clear Lake, Walker Marsh, Alviso Slough and Guadalupe Slough (South San Francisco Bay) along with chemical signatures of acid mine drainage. Acidic-mine impacted sediments in Clear Lake that were characterized by high methyl mercury levels also contained at least 105 acid-tolerant (pH 5.5) sulfate- and iron-reducing bacteria per gram of sediment.

展开