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Biogeochemistry: Mercury methylation on ice

Nature Microbiology volume 1, Article number: 16165 (2016) Cite this article

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Metagenomic analysis of Antarctic sea-ice and brine reveals the presence of hgcAB-like genes in the microaerophilic marine bacterium Nitrospina. These are similar to ones responsible for mercury methylation in anaerobic microorganisms and provide a plausible mechanism for mercury methylation in oxic marine environments.

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Figure 1: Proposed mechanism by Parks et al.2 for the role of the HgcAB proteins in methylation of inorganic Hg (HgII).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Elsie M. Sunderland and Amina T. Schartup are in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA,

    Elsie M. Sunderland & Amina T. Schartup

  2. the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.,

    Elsie M. Sunderland & Amina T. Schartup

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  1. Elsie M. Sunderland
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  2. Amina T. Schartup
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Correspondence to Elsie M. Sunderland.

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Sunderland, E., Schartup, A. Biogeochemistry: Mercury methylation on ice. Nat Microbiol 1, 16165 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2016.165

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