Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Parks, Jerry M.
• Johs, Alexander
• Podar, Mircea
• Bridou, Romain
• Hurt, Richard A.
• Smith, Steven D.
• Tomanicek, Stephen J.
• Qian, Yun
• Brown, Steven D.
• Brandt, Craig C.
• Palumbo, Anthony V.
• Smith, Jeremy C.
• Wall, Judy D.
• Elias, Dwayne A.
• Liang, Liyuan

Titel

The Genetic Basis for Bacterial Mercury Methylation

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2013-03, Vol.339 (6125), p.1332-1335

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

Science magazine suite

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin produced in natural environments from inorganic mercury by anaerobic bacteria. However, until now the genes and proteins involved have remained unidentified. Here, we report a two-gene cluster, hgcA and hgcB, required for mercury methylation by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA. In either bacterium, deletion of hgcA, hgcB, or both genes abolishes mercury methylation. The genes encode a putative corrinoid protein, HgcA, and a 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxin, HgcB, consistent with roles as a methyl carrier and an electron donor required for corrinoid cofactor reduction, respectively. Among bacteria and archaea with sequenced genomes, gene orthologs are present in confirmed methylators but absent in nonmethylators, suggesting a common mercury methylation pathway in all methylating bacteria and archaea sequenced to date.