The use of a mercury biosensor to evaluate the bioavailability of mercury-thiol complexes and mechanisms of mercury uptake in bacteria
Abstract
As mercury (Hg) biosensors are sensitive to only intracellular Hg, they are useful in the investigation of Hg uptake mechanisms and the effects of speciation on Hg bioavailability to microbes. In this study, bacterial biosensors were used to evaluate the roles that several transporters such as the glutathione, cystine/cysteine, and Mer transporters play in the uptake of Hg from Hg-thiol complexes by comparing uptake rates in strains with functioning transport systems to strains where these transporters had been knocked out by deletion of key genes. The Hg uptake into the biosensors was quantified based on the intracellular conversion of inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) to elemental mercury (Hg(0)) by the enzyme MerA. It was found that uptake of Hg from Hg-cysteine (Hg(CYS)2) and Hg-glutathione (Hg(GSH)2) complexes occurred at the same rate as that of inorganic complexes of Hg(II) into Escherichia coli strains with and without intact Mer transport systems. However, higher rates of Hg uptake were observed in the strain with a functioning Mer transport system. These results demonstrate that thiol-bound Hg is bioavailable to E. coli and that this bioavailability is higher in Hg-resistant bacteria with a complete Mer system than in non-resistant strains. No difference in the uptake rate ofmore »
- Authors:
-
- Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States); Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
- Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States)
- Univ. of Connecticut, Groton, CT (United States)
- Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA (United States)
- King Abdul-Aziz Univ., Jeddah (Saudi Arabia)
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ (United States); Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1324975
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1454700
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0007051; sc0007051
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- PLoS ONE
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1932-6203
- Publisher:
- Public Library of Science
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; bacillus stubtilis; glutathione; cysteine; thiols; biosensors; biological transport; synport proteins; cell membranes
Citation Formats
Ndu, Udonna, Barkay, Tamar, Mason, Robert P., Schartup, Amina Traore, Al-Farawati, Radwan, Liu, Jie, Reinfelder, John R., and Chang, Yung -Fu. The use of a mercury biosensor to evaluate the bioavailability of mercury-thiol complexes and mechanisms of mercury uptake in bacteria. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138333.
Ndu, Udonna, Barkay, Tamar, Mason, Robert P., Schartup, Amina Traore, Al-Farawati, Radwan, Liu, Jie, Reinfelder, John R., & Chang, Yung -Fu. The use of a mercury biosensor to evaluate the bioavailability of mercury-thiol complexes and mechanisms of mercury uptake in bacteria. United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138333
Ndu, Udonna, Barkay, Tamar, Mason, Robert P., Schartup, Amina Traore, Al-Farawati, Radwan, Liu, Jie, Reinfelder, John R., and Chang, Yung -Fu. Tue .
"The use of a mercury biosensor to evaluate the bioavailability of mercury-thiol complexes and mechanisms of mercury uptake in bacteria". United States. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138333. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1324975.
@article{osti_1324975,
title = {The use of a mercury biosensor to evaluate the bioavailability of mercury-thiol complexes and mechanisms of mercury uptake in bacteria},
author = {Ndu, Udonna and Barkay, Tamar and Mason, Robert P. and Schartup, Amina Traore and Al-Farawati, Radwan and Liu, Jie and Reinfelder, John R. and Chang, Yung -Fu},
abstractNote = {As mercury (Hg) biosensors are sensitive to only intracellular Hg, they are useful in the investigation of Hg uptake mechanisms and the effects of speciation on Hg bioavailability to microbes. In this study, bacterial biosensors were used to evaluate the roles that several transporters such as the glutathione, cystine/cysteine, and Mer transporters play in the uptake of Hg from Hg-thiol complexes by comparing uptake rates in strains with functioning transport systems to strains where these transporters had been knocked out by deletion of key genes. The Hg uptake into the biosensors was quantified based on the intracellular conversion of inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) to elemental mercury (Hg(0)) by the enzyme MerA. It was found that uptake of Hg from Hg-cysteine (Hg(CYS)2) and Hg-glutathione (Hg(GSH)2) complexes occurred at the same rate as that of inorganic complexes of Hg(II) into Escherichia coli strains with and without intact Mer transport systems. However, higher rates of Hg uptake were observed in the strain with a functioning Mer transport system. These results demonstrate that thiol-bound Hg is bioavailable to E. coli and that this bioavailability is higher in Hg-resistant bacteria with a complete Mer system than in non-resistant strains. No difference in the uptake rate of Hg from Hg(GSH)2 was observed in E. coli strains with or without functioning glutathione transport systems. There was also no difference in uptake rates between a wildtype Bacillus subtilis strain with a functioning cystine/cysteine transport system, and a mutant strain where this transport system had been knocked out. These results cast doubt on the viability of the hypothesis that the entire Hg-thiol complex is taken up into the cell by a thiol transporter. It is more likely that the Hg in the Hg-thiol complex is transferred to a transport protein on the cell membrane and is subsequently internalized.},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0138333},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
number = 9,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:
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