Molecular evidence for novel mercury methylating microorganisms in sulfate-impacted lakes

The ISME Journal
Daniel S JonesJake V Bailey

Abstract

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a bioaccumulative neurotoxin that is produced by certain anaerobic microorganisms, but the abundance and importance of different methylating populations in the environment is not well understood. We combined mercury geochemistry, hgcA gene cloning, rRNA methods, and metagenomics to compare microbial communities associated with MeHg production in two sulfate-impacted lakes on Minnesota's Mesabi Iron Range. The two lakes represent regional endmembers among sulfate-impacted sites in terms of their dissolved sulfide concentrations and MeHg production potential. rRNA amplicon sequencing indicates that sediments and anoxic bottom waters from both lakes contained diverse communities with multiple clades of sulfate reducing Deltaproteobacteria and Clostridia. In hgcA gene clone libraries, however, hgcA sequences were from taxa associated with methanogenesis and iron reduction in addition to sulfate reduction, and the most abundant clones were from unknown groups. We therefore applied metagenomics to identify the unknown populations in the lakes with the capability to methylate mercury, and reconstructed 27 genomic bins with hgcA. Some of the most abundant potential methylating populations were from phyla that ar...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 6, 2020·Journal of Environmental Quality·Jennie I SirotaEdward A Nater
Jul 3, 2020·Limnology and Oceanography·Andrea G Bravo, Claudia Cosio
Oct 31, 2020·Frontiers in Microbiology·Caitlin M GionfriddoDwayne A Elias
Feb 12, 2021·International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology·Cynthia C GilmourDwayne A Elias
Jan 20, 2021·Water Environment Research : a Research Publication of the Water Environment Federation·Paula C FureyDaniel L Clemans
Aug 14, 2020·The Science of the Total Environment·Mae Sexauer GustinTong Zhang
Nov 25, 2020·Environmental Science & Technology·Benjamin D PetersonKatherine D McMahon

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Datasets Mentioned

BETA
PRJNA488162

Methods Mentioned

BETA
PCR
amplicon sequencing
fluorescence microscopy

Software Mentioned

Phylip
ARB
prinseq
cutadapt
ProtTest
Integrated Microbial Genomes ( IMG )
Coffee
BLASTX
R
McQuade

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