PARAMETERS

INFLUENCING METABOLIC
DIVERSITY MICROBES

POLLUTANTS :
MERCURY

i. A newly discovered mechanism for the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0)

was recently described among Hg-sensitive dissimilatory metalreducing bacteria (DMRB), which use iron and/or manganese as TEA in
respiration.
ii. When the DMRB, S.
oneidensis MR-1 and G.
sulfurreducens PCA and G.
metallireducens GS-15, were
incubated with fumarate or
ferric oxyhydroxide, as much
as 36% of Hg(II), added at an
initial 825 nM, was reduced
and volatilized in 3 h and this
activity depended on the
availability of both electron
donors and acceptors.

iii. Mercury reduction by strain

Adaptation:
MR-1 was constitutively expressed,
Mercury
that is, induction was not needed
for the initiation of activity, and
Reduction
when its rate was compared with
that of the mer-mediated pathway,
by
it was significantly faster under
Hgnoninducing conditions but lower
when cells were preexposed to
Sensitive
Hg(II).
MetalReducing
iv. These results
suggested that Hg(II) reduction by
Bacteria
DMRB may be a significant process in anoxic
environments.

(Wiatrowski et al., 2006)

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