Deltaproteobacteria and Spirochaetes-Like Bacteria Are Abundant Putative Mercury Methylators in Oxygen-Deficient Water and Marine Particles in the Baltic Sea.

ABSTRACT: Methylmercury (MeHg), a neurotoxic compound biomagnifying in aquatic food webs, can be a threat to human health via fish consumption. However, the composition and distribution of the microbial communities mediating the methylation of mercury (Hg) to MeHg in marine systems remain largely unknown. In order to fill this knowledge gap, we used the Baltic Sea Reference Metagenome (BARM) dataset to study the abundance and distribution of the genes involved in Hg methylation (the hgcAB gene cluster). We determined the relative abundance of the hgcAB genes and their taxonomic identity in 81 brackish metagenomes that cover spatial, seasonal and redox variability in the Baltic Sea water column. The hgcAB genes were predominantly detected in anoxic water, but some hgcAB ge

SUBMITTER: Capo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7536318 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature