The Mercury Resistance Operon: From an Origin in a Geothermal Environment to an Efficient Detoxification Machine

Boyd, Eric S.; Barkay, Tamar

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2012.00349

The Mercury Resistance Operon: From an Origin in a Geothermal Environment to an Efficient Detoxification Machine

Journal Article · Mon Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Frontiers in Microbiology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00349· OSTI ID:1628070

Boyd, Eric S. ^[1]; Barkay, Tamar ^[2]

Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry; DOE/OSTI
Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States). Dept. of Biochemistry and Microbiology

Mercuric mercury (Hg[II]) is a highly toxic and mobile element that is likely to have had a pronounced and adverse effect on biology since Earth’s oxygenation ~2.4 billion years ago due to its high affinity for protein sulfhydryl groups, which upon binding destabilize protein structure and decrease enzyme activity, resulting in a decreased organismal fitness. The central enzyme in the microbial mercury detoxification system is the mercuric reductase (MerA) protein, which catalyzes the reduction of Hg(II) to volatile Hg(0). In addition to MerA, mer operons encode for proteins involved in regulation, Hg binding, and organomercury degradation. Mer-mediated approaches have had broad applications in the bioremediation of mercury-contaminated environments and industrial waste streams. Here, we examine the composition of 272 individual mer operons and quantitatively map the distribution of mer-encoded functions on both taxonomic SSU rRNA gene and MerA phylogenies. The results indicate an origin and early evolution of MerA among thermophilic bacteria and an overall increase in the complexity of mer operons through evolutionary time, suggesting continual gene recruitment and evolution leading to an improved efficiency and functional potential of the Mer detoxification system. Consistent with a positive relationship between the evolutionary history and topology of MerA and SSU rRNA gene phylogenies (Mantel R = 0.81, p < 0.01), the distribution of the majority of mer functions, when mapped on these phylograms, indicates an overall tendency to inherit mer-encoded functions through vertical descent. However, individual mer functions display evidence of a variable degree of vertical inheritance, with several genes exhibiting strong evidence for acquisition via lateral gene transfer and/or gene loss. Collectively, these data suggest that (i) mer has evolved from a simple system in geothermal environments to a widely distributed and more complex and efficient detoxification system, and (ii) merA is a suitable biomarker for examining the functional diversity of Hg detoxification and for predicting the composition of mer operons in natural environments.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-08ER64544

OSTI ID:: 1628070

Journal Information:: Frontiers in Microbiology, Journal Name: Frontiers in Microbiology Vol. 3; ISSN 1664-302X

Publisher:: Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (52)

Aquificales Huber, Robert; Eder, Wolfgang The Prokaryotes https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30747-8_39	book	January 2006
Regulation of the operon responsible for broad-spectrum mercury resistance inStreptomyces lividans 1326 Brünker, P.; Rother, D.; Klein, J. Molecular and General Genetics MGG, Vol. 251, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02172521	journal	June 1996
The Quality of merC, a Module of the mer Mosaic Liebert, Cynthia A.; Watson, Alice L.; Summers, Anne O. Journal of Molecular Evolution, Vol. 51, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1007/s002390010124	journal	December 2000
Mercury bioaccumulation and trophic transfer in the terrestrial food web of a montane forest Rimmer, Christopher C.; Miller, Eric K.; McFarland, Kent P. Ecotoxicology, Vol. 19, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-009-0443-x	journal	December 2009
Genome-wide identification, structural analysis and expression profiles of GRAS gene family in orchardgrass Xu, Xiaoheng; Feng, Guangyan; Huang, Linkai Molecular Biology Reports, Vol. 47, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05279-9	journal	February 2020
Mercury in water and biomass of microbial communities in hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, USA King, Susan A.; Behnke, Sabrina; Slack, Kim Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 21, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2006.08.004	journal	November 2006
Structure and Conformational Dynamics of the Metalloregulator MerR upon Binding of Hg(II) Guo, Hao-Bo; Johs, Alexander; Parks, Jerry M. Journal of Molecular Biology, Vol. 398, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.2010.03.020	journal	May 2010
Anthropogenic contributions to mercury levels in present-day Arctic animals—A review Dietz, Rune; Outridge, Peter M.; Hobson, Keith A. Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 407, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.08.036	journal	December 2009
Bioaccumulation of mercury in pelagic freshwater food webs Watras, C. J.; Back, R. C.; Halvorsen, S. Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 219, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0048-9697(98)00228-9	journal	August 1998
Bacterial mercury resistance from atoms to ecosystems Barkay, Tamar; Miller, Susan M.; Summers, Anne O. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Vol. 27, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-6445(03)00046-9	journal	June 2003
Efflux-mediated heavy metal resistance in prokaryotes Nies, Dietrich H. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Vol. 27, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-6445(03)00048-2	journal	June 2003
Primary structure of an invertebrate dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase with phylogenetic relationship to vertebrate and bacterial disulfide oxidoreductases Pullikuth, Ashok K.; Gill, Sarjeet S. Gene, Vol. 200, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1119(97)00413-7	journal	October 1997
Detection of lateral gene transfer among microbial genomes Ragan, Mark A. Current Opinion in Genetics & Development, Vol. 11, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0959-437x(00)00244-6	journal	December 2001
TRASH: a novel metal-binding domain predicted to be involved in heavy-metal sensing, trafficking and resistance Ettema, Thijs J. G.; Huynen, Martijn A.; de Vos, Willem M. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-0004(03)00037-9	journal	April 2003
A Luminescence-Based Mercury Biosensor Virta, Marko.; Lampinen, Jorma.; Karp, Matti. Analytical Chemistry, Vol. 67, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/ac00099a027	journal	February 1995
Role of tyrosine residues in mercury(II) detoxification by mercuric reductase from Bacillus sp. strain RC607 Rennex, Denise; Cummings, Richard T.; Pickett, Mark Biochemistry, Vol. 32, Issue 29 https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00080a019	journal	July 1993
NmerA, the Metal Binding Domain of Mercuric Ion Reductase, Removes Hg ²⁺ from Proteins, Delivers It to the Catalytic Core, and Protects Cells under Glutathione-Depleted Conditions ^, Ledwidge, Richard; Patel, Bijal; Dong, Aiping Biochemistry, Vol. 44, Issue 34 https://doi.org/10.1021/bi050519d	journal	August 2005
Role of the Bacterial Organomercury Lyase (MerB) in Controlling Methylmercury Accumulation in Mercury-Contaminated Natural Waters Schaefer, Jeffra K.; Yagi, Jane; Reinfelder, John R. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 38, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1021/es049895w	journal	August 2004
Mercury Stable Isotope Fractionation during Reduction of Hg(II) to Hg(0) by Mercury Resistant Microorganisms Kritee, K.; Blum, Joel D.; Johnson, Marcus W. Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 41, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/es062019t	journal	March 2007
Lateral gene transfer and the nature of bacterial innovation Ochman, Howard; Lawrence, Jeffrey G.; Groisman, Eduardo A. Nature, Vol. 405, Issue 6784 https://doi.org/10.1038/35012500	journal	May 2000
Mechanisms of, and Barriers to, Horizontal Gene Transfer between Bacteria Thomas, Christopher M.; Nielsen, Kaare M. Nature Reviews Microbiology, Vol. 3, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1234	journal	September 2005
On the chimeric nature, thermophilic origin, and phylogenetic placement of the Thermotogales Zhaxybayeva, O.; Swithers, K. S.; Lapierre, P. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901260106	journal	March 2009
The Toxicology of Mercury and Its Chemical Compounds Clarkson, Thomas W.; Magos, Laszlo Critical Reviews in Toxicology, Vol. 36, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1080/10408440600845619	journal	January 2006
APE: Analyses of Phylogenetics and Evolution in R language Paradis, E.; Claude, J.; Strimmer, K. Bioinformatics, Vol. 20, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btg412	journal	January 2004
ProtTest: selection of best-fit models of protein evolution Abascal, F.; Zardoya, R.; Posada, D. Bioinformatics, Vol. 21, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bti263	journal	January 2005
Clustal W and Clustal X version 2.0 Larkin, M. A.; Blackshields, G.; Brown, N. P. Bioinformatics, Vol. 23, Issue 21, p. 2947-2948 https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btm404	journal	September 2007
Phylocom: software for the analysis of phylogenetic community structure and trait evolution Webb, Campbell O.; Ackerly, David D.; Kembel, Steven W. Bioinformatics, Vol. 24, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btn358	journal	August 2008
Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology Kembel, S. W.; Cowan, P. D.; Helmus, M. R. Bioinformatics, Vol. 26, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btq166	journal	April 2010
jModelTest: Phylogenetic Model Averaging Posada, D. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol. 25, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msn083	journal	April 2008
Estimating Absolute Rates of Molecular Evolution and Divergence Times: A Penalized Likelihood Approach Sanderson, Michael J. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol. 19, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a003974	journal	January 2002
Prokaryotic Evolution in Light of Gene Transfer Gogarten, J. Peter; Doolittle, W. Ford; Lawrence, Jeffrey G. Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol. 19, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a004046	journal	December 2002
Horizontal gene transfer in evolution: facts and challenges Boto, Luis Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 277, Issue 1683 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.1679	journal	November 2009
Phylogenetic analyses of cyanobacterial genomes: Quantification of horizontal gene transfer events Zhaxybayeva, O. Genome Research, Vol. 16, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.5322306	journal	August 2006
Testing for Phylogenetic Signal in Comparative Data: Behavioral Traits are more Labile Blomberg, Simon P.; Garland, Theodore; Ives, Anthony R. Evolution, Vol. 57, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2003.tb00285.x	journal	April 2003
Methylmercury enters an aquatic food web through acidophilic microbial mats in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming Boyd, Eric S.; King, Susan; Tomberlin, Jeffery K. Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01820.x	journal	April 2009
A thermophilic bacterial origin and subsequent constraints by redox, light and salinity on the evolution of the microbial mercuric reductase: The natural history of the mercuric reductase Barkay, Tamar; Kritee, K.; Boyd, Eric Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 12, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02260.x	journal	November 2010
Distribution, diversity and evolution of the bacterial mercury resistance ( mer ) operon Osborn, A. Mark; Bruce, Kenneth D.; Strike, Peter FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Vol. 19, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6976.1997.tb00300.x	journal	April 1997
Mercury Resistance and Mercuric Reductase Activities and Expression among Chemotrophic Thermophilic Aquificae Freedman, Zachary; Zhu, Chengsheng; Barkay, Tamar Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 78, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.01060-12	journal	July 2012
Bioluminescent sensors for detection of bioavailable Hg(II) in the environment. Selifonova, O.; Burlage, R.; Barkay, T. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 59, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.59.9.3083-3090.1993	journal	January 1993
Community Analysis of a Mercury Hot Spring Supports Occurrence of Domain-Specific Forms of Mercuric Reductase Simbahan, Jessica; Kurth, Elizabeth; Schelert, James Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 71, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.71.12.8836-8845.2005	journal	December 2005
Regulation of Mercury Resistance in the Crenarchaeote Sulfolobus solfataricus Schelert, J.; Drozda, M.; Dixit, V. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 188, Issue 20, p. 7141-7150 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.00558-06	journal	October 2006
Characterization of a translocation unit encoding resistance to mercuric ions that occurs on a nonconjugative plasmid in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Stanisich, V. A.; Bennett, P. M.; Richmond, M. H. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 129, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.129.3.1227-1233.1977	journal	January 1977
Untwist and shout: a heavy metal-responsive transcriptional regulator Summers, A. O. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 174, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.174.10.3097-3101.1992	journal	May 1992
Roles of the Tn21 merT, merP, and merC gene products in mercury resistance and mercury binding. Hamlett, N. V.; Landale, E. C.; Davis, B. H. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 174, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.174.20.6377-6385.1992	journal	October 1992
The merG Gene Product Is Involved in Phenylmercury Resistance in Pseudomonas Strain K-62 Kiyono, Masako; Pan-Hou, Hidemitsu Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 181, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.181.3.726-730.1999	journal	February 1999
Occurrence and Characterization of Mercury Resistance in the Hyperthermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus by Use of Gene Disruption Schelert, James; Dixit, Vidula; Hoang, Viet Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 186, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1128/jb.186.2.427-437.2004	journal	January 2004
The Black Queen Hypothesis: Evolution of Dependencies through Adaptive Gene Loss Morris, J. Jeffrey; Lenski, Richard E.; Zinser, Erik R. mBio, Vol. 3, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00036-12	journal	March 2012
Evolution of mercuric reductase (merA) gene: A case of horizontal gene transfer Lal, Devi; Lal, Rup Microbiology, Vol. 79, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1134/s0026261710040120	journal	August 2010
Biosynthesis of the Iron-Molybdenum Cofactor of Nitrogenase Rubio, Luis M.; Ludden, Paul W. Annual Review of Microbiology, Vol. 62, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.micro.62.081307.162737	journal	October 2008
An Alternative Path for the Evolution of Biological Nitrogen Fixation Boyd, Eric S.; Hamilton, Trinity L.; Peters, John W. Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 2 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2011.00205	journal	January 2011
Survey of branch support methods demonstrates accuracy, power, and robustness of fast likelihood-based approximation schemes Maria, Anisimova,; Manuel, Gil,; Jean-François, Dufayard, ETH Zurich https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000025273	text	January 2011
Global mercury emissions to the atmosphere from anthropogenic and natural sources Pirrone, N.; Cinnirella, S.; Feng, X. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-10-4719-2010	journal	January 2010

Cited By (31)

Interplay between Oxygen and Fe–S Cluster Biogenesis: Insights from the Suf Pathway Boyd, Eric S.; Thomas, Khaleh M.; Dai, Yuyuan Biochemistry, Vol. 53, Issue 37 https://doi.org/10.1021/bi500488r	journal	September 2014
Microbial DNA records historical delivery of anthropogenic mercury Poulain, Alexandre J.; Aris-Brosou, Stéphane; Blais, Jules M. The ISME Journal, Vol. 9, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.86	journal	June 2015
Swift evolutionary response of microbes to a rise in anthropogenic mercury in the Northern Hemisphere Ruuskanen, Matti O.; Aris-Brosou, Stéphane; Poulain, Alexandre J. The ISME Journal, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-019-0563-0	journal	December 2019
Assessing the genetic diversity of Cu resistance in mine tailings through high-throughput recovery of full-length copA genes Li, Xiaofang; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Shaban, Babak Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13258	journal	August 2015
Biofilm Formation Potential of Heat-Resistant Escherichia coli Dairy Isolates and the Complete Genome of Multidrug-Resistant, Heat-Resistant Strain FAM21845 Marti, Roger; Schmid, Michael; Kulli, Sandra Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 83, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00628-17	journal	August 2017
Superoxide Dismutase and Pseudocatalase Increase Tolerance to Hg(II) in Thermus thermophilus HB27 by Maintaining the Reduced Bacillithiol Pool Norambuena, Javiera; Hanson, Thomas E.; Barkay, Tamar mBio, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00183-19	journal	April 2019
Lateral Gene Transfer in a Heavy Metal-Contaminated-Groundwater Microbial Community Hemme, Christopher L.; Green, Stefan J.; Rishishwar, Lavanya mBio, Vol. 7, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02234-15	journal	April 2016
Comparison of Bacterial Community Structure and Diversity in Traditional Gold Mining Waste Disposal Site and Rice Field by Using a Metabarcoding Approach No authors listed International Journal of Microbiology, Vol. 2020, p. 1-8 https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1858732	journal	January 2020
A Rhizosphere-Associated Symbiont, Photobacterium spp. Strain MELD1, and Its Targeted Synergistic Activity for Phytoprotection against Mercury Mathew, Dony Chacko; Ho, Ying-Ning; Gicana, Ronnie Gicaraya PLOS ONE, Vol. 10, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121178	journal	March 2015
Genome Analysis of the Biotechnologically Relevant Acidophilic Iron Oxidising Strain JA12 Indicates Phylogenetic and Metabolic Diversity within the Novel Genus “Ferrovum” Ullrich, Sophie R.; Poehlein, Anja; Tischler, Judith S. PLOS ONE, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146832	journal	January 2016
Biochemical and Structural Properties of a Thermostable Mercuric Ion Reductase from Metallosphaera sedula Artz, Jacob H.; White, Spencer N.; Zadvornyy, Oleg A. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Vol. 3 https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2015.00097	journal	July 2015
Genomic Characterization of a Mercury Resistant Arthrobacter sp. H-02-3 Reveals the Presence of Heavy Metal and Antibiotic Resistance Determinants Pathak, Ashish; Jaswal, Rajneesh; Chauhan, Ashvini Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 10 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.03039	journal	January 2020
Comparative genomic analysis of a new tellurite-resistantPsychrobacterstrain isolated from the Antarctic Peninsula Muñoz-Villagrán, Claudia Melissa; Mendez, Katterinne N.; Cornejo, Fabian PeerJ, Vol. 6 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4402	journal	February 2018
Microbial generation of elemental mercury from dissolved methylmercury in seawater Lee, Cheng‐Shiuan; Fisher, Nicholas S. Limnology and Oceanography, Vol. 64, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11068	journal	October 2018
Distribution of mercury‐cycling genes in the Arctic and equatorial Pacific Oceans and their relationship to mercury speciation Bowman, Katlin L.; Collins, R. Eric; Agather, Alison M. Limnology and Oceanography, Vol. 65, Issue S1 https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11310	journal	January 2020
Genetic basis and importance of metal resistant genes in bacteria for bioremediation of contaminated environments with toxic metal pollutants Das, Surajit; Dash, Hirak R.; Chakraborty, Jaya Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Vol. 100, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7364-4	journal	February 2016
Heavy metal resistance in halophilic Bacteria and Archaea Voica, Doriana Mădălina; Bartha, Laszlo; Banciu, Horia Leonard FEMS Microbiology Letters, Vol. 363, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1093/femsle/fnw146	journal	June 2016
The Environmental Acinetobacter baumannii Isolate DSM30011 Reveals Clues into the Preantibiotic Era Genome Diversity, Virulence Potential, and Niche Range of a Predominant Nosocomial Pathogen Repizo, Guillermo D.; Viale, Alejandro M.; Borges, Vítor Genome Biology and Evolution, Vol. 9, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evx162	journal	August 2017
Plasmid stability is enhanced by higher-frequency pulses of positive selection Stevenson, Cagla; Hall, James P. J.; Brockhurst, Michael A. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 285, Issue 1870 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.2497	journal	January 2018
Tracking of antibiotic resistance transfer and rapid plasmid evolution in a hospital setting by Nanopore sequencing Peter, Silke; Bosio, Mattia; Gross, Caspar mSphere https://doi.org/10.1101/639609	posted_content	January 2019
Probing the geological source and biological fate of hydrogen in Yellowstone hot springs Lindsay, Melody R.; Colman, Daniel R.; Amenabar, Maximiliano J. Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 21, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14730	journal	July 2019
Antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes in Aeromonas spp. isolated from marketed Manila Clam ( Ruditapes philippinarum ) in Korea Dahanayake, P. S.; Hossain, S.; Wickramanayake, M. V. K. S. Journal of Applied Microbiology, Vol. 127, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.14355	journal	June 2019
Tracking of Antibiotic Resistance Transfer and Rapid Plasmid Evolution in a Hospital Setting by Nanopore Sequencing Peter, Silke; Bosio, Mattia; Gross, Caspar mSphere, Vol. 5, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1128/msphere.00525-20	journal	August 2020
Native Plasmid-Encoded Mercury Resistance Genes Are Functional and Demonstrate Natural Transformation in Environmental Bacterial Isolates Kothari, Ankita; Soneja, Drishti; Tang, Albert mSystems, Vol. 4, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.00588-19	journal	December 2019
Isolation and characterization of mercury-resistant bacteria from wastewater sources in Egypt Naguib, Martha M.; Khairalla, Ahmed S.; El-Gendy, Ahmed O. Canadian Journal of Microbiology, Vol. 65, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1139/cjm-2018-0379	journal	April 2019
Diversity and Niche of Archaea in Bioremediation Krzmarzick, Mark James; Taylor, David Kyle; Fu, Xiang Archaea, Vol. 2018 https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3194108	journal	September 2018
Multidrug-Resistant CTX-M-(15, 9, 2)- and KPC-2-Producing Enterobacter hormaechei and Enterobacter asburiae Isolates Possessed a Set of Acquired Heavy Metal Tolerance Genes Including a Chromosomal sil Operon (for Acquired Silver Resistance) Andrade, Leonardo N.; Siqueira, Thiago E. S.; Martinez, Roberto Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 9 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00539	journal	March 2018
Multiple Lines of Evidences Reveal Mechanisms Underpinning Mercury Resistance and Volatilization by Stenotrophomonas sp. MA5 Isolated from the Savannah River Site (SRS), USA Agarwal, Meenakshi; Rathore, Rajesh Singh; Jagoe, Charles Cells, Vol. 8, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.3390/cells8040309	journal	April 2019
Life in High Salt Concentrations with Changing Environmental Conditions: Insights from Genomic and Phenotypic Analysis of Salinivibrio sp. John, Jojy; Siva, Vinu; Richa, Kumari Microorganisms, Vol. 7, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7110577	journal	November 2019
The Confluence of Heavy Metal Biooxidation and Heavy Metal Resistance: Implications for Bioleaching by Extreme Thermoacidophiles Wheaton, Garrett; Counts, James; Mukherjee, Arpan Minerals, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.3390/min5030397	journal	July 2015
Genomic data mining of the marine actinobacteria Streptomyces sp. H-KF8 unveils insights into multi-stress related genes and metabolic pathways involved in antimicrobial synthesis Undabarrena, Agustina; Ugalde, Juan A.; Seeger, Michael PeerJ, Vol. 5 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2912	journal	January 2017

Similar Records

Functions, Evolution, and Application of the Supramolecular Machines of Hg Detoxification

Technical Report · Thu Nov 26 23:00:00 EST 2009 · OSTI ID:968214

Cloning and DNA sequence of the mercuric- and organomercurial-resistance determinants of plasmid pDU1358

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) · OSTI ID:5588462

Nucleotide sequence and expression of the mercurial-resistance operon from Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pI258

Journal Article · Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.; (United States) · OSTI ID:5209807

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Microbiology
diversity
gene loss
genomics
lateral gene transfer
merA
mercuric reductase
operon evolution
trait evolution

The Mercury Resistance Operon: From an Origin in a Geothermal Environment to an Efficient Detoxification Machine

Citation Formats

References (52)

Cited By (31)

Similar Records

Related Subjects