Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Biogeochemistry

Better living through mercury

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 94–95 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Mercury is a toxic element with no known biological function. Laboratory studies demonstrate that mercury can be beneficial to microbial growth by acting as an electron acceptor during photosynthesis.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Scanning electron microscope image of purple non-sulphur bacteria.

References

  1. Colombo, M. J., Ha, J., Reinfelder, J. R., Barkay, T. & Yee, N. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 112, 166–177 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Barkay, T. & Wagner-Döbler, I. Adv. Appl. Microbiol. 57, 1–52 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Grégoire, D. S. & Poulain, A. J. Nature Geosci. 343, 1502–1504 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ben-Bassat, D. & Mayer, A. M. Physiol. Plantarum 33, 128–132 (1975).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Mason, R. P., Morel, F. M. M. & Hemond, H. F. Water Air Soil Poll. 80, 775–787 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Barkay, T., Kritee, K., Boyd, E. & Geesey, G. Environ. Microbiol. 12, 2904–2917 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Amyot, M., Gill, G. A. & Morel, F. M. M. Environ. Sci. Technol. 31, 3606–3611 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lanzillotta, E. et al. Sci. Total Environ. 318, 211–221 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Poulain, A. J. et al. Limnol. Oceanogr. 49, 2265–2275 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. McKinlay, J. B. & Harwood, C. S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 11669–11675 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jeffra K. Schaefer is in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA,

    Jeffra K. Schaefer

Authors
  1. Jeffra K. Schaefer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffra K. Schaefer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schaefer, J. Better living through mercury. Nature Geosci 9, 94–95 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2638

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2638

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology