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Title: Microbial community structure with trends in methylation gene diversity and abundance in mercury-contaminated rice paddy soils in Guizhou, China

Journal Article · · Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c7em00558j· OSTI ID:1435339

Paddy soils from mercury (Hg)-contaminated rice fields in Guizhou, China were studied with respect to total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations as well as Bacterial and Archaeal community composition. Total Hg (0.25-990 μg g-1) and MeHg (1.3-30.5 ng g-1) varied between samples. Pyrosequencing (454 FLX) of the hypervariable v1-v3 regions of the 16S rRNA genes showed that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Euryarchaeota, and Crenarchaeota were dominant in all samples. The Bacterial α-diversity was higher in samples with relatively Low THg and MeHg and decreased with increasing THg and MeHg concentrations. In contrast, Archaeal α-diversity increased with increasing of MeHg concentrations but did not correlate with changes in THg concentrations. Overall, the methylation gene hgcAB copy number increased with both increasing THg and MeHg concentrations. The microbial communities at High THg and High MeHg appear to be adapted by species that are both Hg resistant and carry hgcAB genes for MeHg production. The relatively high abundance of both sulfate-reducing δ-Proteobacteria and methanogenic Archaea, as well as their positive correlations with increasing THg and MeHg concentrations, suggests that these microorganisms are the primary Hg-methylators in the rice paddy soils in Guizhou, China.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1435339
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1434080; OSTI ID: 1479398
Journal Information:
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, Vol. 20, Issue 4; ISSN 2050-7887
Publisher:
Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Biotic formation of methylmercury: A bio–physico–chemical conundrum journal November 2019
Reduced sulphur sources favour Hg II reduction during anoxygenic photosynthesis by Heliobacteria journal September 2019
Methanogens and Iron-Reducing Bacteria: the Overlooked Members of Mercury-Methylating Microbial Communities in Boreal Lakes text January 2018

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