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General Microbial Ecology

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria: Principal Methylators of Mercury in Anoxic Estuarine Sediment

G. C. Compeau, R. Bartha
G. C. Compeau
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R. Bartha
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ABSTRACT

Substrate-electron acceptor combinations and specific metabolic inhibitors were applied to anoxic saltmarsh sediment spiked with mercuric ions (Hg2+) in an effort to identify, by a direct approach, the microorganisms responsible for the synthesis of hazardous monomethylmercury. 2-Bromoethane sulfonate (30 mM), a specific inhibitor of methanogens, increased monomethylmercury synthesis, whereas sodium molybdate (20 mM), a specific inhibitor of sulfate reducers, decreased Hg2+ methylation by more than 95%. Anaerobic enrichment and isolation procedures yielded a Desulfovibrio desulfuricans culture that vigorously methylated Hg2+ in culture solution and also in samples of presterilized sediment. The Hg2+ methylation activity of sulfate reducers is fully expressed only when sulfate is limiting and fermentable organic substrates are available. To date, sulfate reducers have not been suspected of Hg2+ methylation. Identification of these bacteria as the principal methylators of Hg2+ in anoxic sediments raises questions about the environmental relevance of previous pure culture-based methylation work.

FOOTNOTES

  • ↵* Corresponding author.

  • ↵† New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station publication no. D-1408-3-85.

  • Copyright © 1985, American Society for Microbiology
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Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria: Principal Methylators of Mercury in Anoxic Estuarine Sediment
G. C. Compeau, R. Bartha
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Aug 1985, 50 (2) 498-502; DOI:

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Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria: Principal Methylators of Mercury in Anoxic Estuarine Sediment
G. C. Compeau, R. Bartha
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Aug 1985, 50 (2) 498-502; DOI:
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