Syntrophs dominate sequences associated with the mercury methylation-related gene hgcA in the water conservation areas of the Florida Everglades.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms and rates of mercury methylation in the Florida Everglades are of great concern because of potential adverse impacts on human and wildlife health through mercury accumulation in aquatic food webs. We developed a new PCR primer set targeting hgcA, a gene encoding a corrinoid protein essential for Hg methylation across broad phylogenetic boundaries, and used this primer set to study the distribution of hgcA sequences in soils collected from three sites along a gradient in sulfate and nutrient concentrations in the northern Everglades. The sequences obtained were distributed in diverse phyla, including Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Methanomicrobia; however, hgcA clone libraries from all sites were dominated by sequences clustering within the order Syntrophobacter

SUBMITTER: Bae HS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4178645 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature