{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,17]],"date-time":"2026-10-17T04:49:12Z","timestamp":1792212552956,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,10]],"date-time":"2018-04-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1523318400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,2]],"date-time":"2018-05-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1525219200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000066","name":"HHS | NIH | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01ES024284-01"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01ES024284-01"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000066","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006228","name":"DOE | LDRD | Oak Ridge National Laboratory","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["Mercury SFA"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Mercury SFA"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006228","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["mBio"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2018,5,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:p>\n            Methylmercury (MeHg) production was compared among nine cultured methanogenic archaea that contain\n            <jats:italic>hgcAB<\/jats:italic>\n            , a gene pair that codes for mercury (Hg) methylation. The methanogens tested produced MeHg at inherently different rates, even when normalized to growth rate and Hg availability. Eight of the nine tested were capable of MeHg production greater than that of spent- and uninoculated-medium controls during batch culture growth.\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Methanococcoides methylutens<\/jats:named-content>\n            , an\n            <jats:italic>hgcAB<\/jats:italic>\n            <jats:sup>\n              <jats:italic>+<\/jats:italic>\n            <\/jats:sup>\n            strain with a fused gene pair, was unable to produce more MeHg than controls. Maximal conversion of Hg to MeHg through a full batch culture growth cycle for each species (except\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">M.\u00a0methylutens<\/jats:named-content>\n            ) ranged from 2 to &gt;50% of the added Hg(II) or between 0.2 and 17\u00a0pmol of MeHg\/mg of protein. Three of the species produced &gt;10% MeHg. The ability to produce MeHg was confirmed in several\n            <jats:italic>hgcAB<\/jats:italic>\n            <jats:sup>\n              <jats:italic>+<\/jats:italic>\n            <\/jats:sup>\n            methanogens that had not previously been tested (\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Methanocella paludicola<\/jats:named-content>\n            SANAE,\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Methanocorpusculum bavaricum<\/jats:named-content>\n            ,\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Methanofollis liminatans<\/jats:named-content>\n            GKZPZ, and\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Methanosphaerula palustris<\/jats:named-content>\n            E1-9c). Maximal methylation was observed at low sulfide concentrations (&lt;100\u00a0\u03bcM) and in the presence of 0.5 to 5 mM cysteine. For\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">M.\u00a0hollandica<\/jats:named-content>\n            , the addition of up to 5\u00a0mM cysteine enhanced MeHg production and cell growth in a concentration-dependent manner. As observed for bacterial Hg methylators, sulfide inhibited MeHg production. An initial evaluation of sulfide and thiol impacts on bioavailability showed methanogens responding to Hg complexation in the same way as do\n            <jats:italic>Deltaproteobacteria<\/jats:italic>\n            . The mercury methylation rates of several methanogens rival those of the better-studied Hg-methylating sulfate- and iron-reducing\n            <jats:italic>Deltaproteobacteria<\/jats:italic>\n            .\n          <\/jats:p>\n          <jats:p>\n            <jats:bold>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:bold>\n            <jats:named-content content-type=\"genus-species\">Archaea<\/jats:named-content>\n            , specifically methanogenic organisms, play a role in mercury methylation in nature, but their global importance to MeHg production and the subsequent risk to ecosystems are not known. Methanogenesis has been linked to Hg methylation in several natural habitats where methylmercury production incurs risk to people and ecosystems, including rice paddies and permafrost. In this study, we confirm that most methanogens carrying the\n            <jats:italic>hgcAB<\/jats:italic>\n            gene pair are capable of Hg methylation. We found that methylation rates vary inherently among\n            <jats:italic>hgcAB<\/jats:italic>\n            <jats:sup>\n              <jats:italic>+<\/jats:italic>\n            <\/jats:sup>\n            methanogens but that several species are capable of MeHg production at rates that rival those of the better-know Hg-methylating sulfate- and iron-reducing bacteria. Methanogens may need to be considered equally with sulfate and iron reducers in evaluations of MeHg production in nature.\n          <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1128\/mbio.02403-17","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,4,9]],"date-time":"2018-04-09T11:10:11Z","timestamp":1523272211000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":146,"title":["Robust Mercury Methylation across Diverse Methanogenic Archaea"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1720-9498","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cynthia C.","family":"Gilmour","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Allyson L.","family":"Bullock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alyssa","family":"McBurney","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mircea","family":"Podar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4469-6391","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dwayne A.","family":"Elias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 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