Examining concentrations and molecular weights of thiols in microorganism cultures and in Churchill River (Manitoba) using a fluorescent-labeling method coupled to asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation

Mechanism of methylmercury photodegradation in the yellow sea and East China Sea: Dominant pathways, and role of sunlight spectrum and dissolved organic matter

Mercury (Hg) is among the most concerned contaminants in the world due to its high toxicity, prevalent existence in the environments, and bioaccumulation via food chain. Methylmercury (MeHg) is the major form of Hg that accumulates along the food chain and poses threat to humans and wild life. Photodegradation is the dominant process that MeHg is eliminated from freshwater system and upper ocean. The formation of MeHg-dissolved organic matter (DOM) complexes and a variety of free radicals (FR)/reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been previously proposed to be involved in MeHg photodegradation. However, most of these studies were conducted in freshwater, and the mechanism of MeHg photodegradation in seawater remains unclear. In this study, the main pathways of MeHg photodegradation in the seawater of Yellow Sea (YS) and East China Sea (ECS) were investigated using FR/ ROS scavenger addition and DOM competing-ligand addition techniques. The results showed that direct photodegradation of MeHg-DOM complexes is the major pathway of MeHg photodegradation in the YS and ECS, while indirect photolysis of MeHg by hydroxyl radical (·OH) also plays a certain role at some sites. MeHg photodegradation was found to be mainly induced by ultraviolet (UV) light rather than visible light in YS and ECS seawater, and the contribution of UV-B was higher than UV-A which was opposite to that previously reported in freshwater. The energy for breaking the bond of CHg in MeHg-Cl complexes formed in seawater is higher than that in MeHg-DOM complexes and this may cause the relatively greater contribution of UV-B with higher energy to MeHg photodegradation in seawater. In addition, MeHg photodegradation in various fractions of natural DOM with different molecular weights, hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity and acid-base was tested. MeHg photodegradation rates (kd) varied in these fractions and kd in high molecular weight DOM and hydrophobic Acid (HOA) fractions were faster than that in the other fractions. A significantly positive correlation was observed between kd and thiol concentrations while there was no significant correlation between kd and other measured parameters representing the composition of DOM (specific UV absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA254), spectral slope (SR), chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), humification index (HIX), biological index (BIX) and fluorescent components). These results indicate that thiol may be the key functional group in DOM affecting the photodegradation of MeHg in the YS and ECS.

Time-Dependent Biosensor Fluorescence as a Measure of Bacterial Arsenic Uptake Kinetics and Its Inhibition by Dissolved Organic Matter

Microbe-mediated transformations of arsenic (As) often require As to be taken up into cells prior to enzymatic reaction. Despite the importance of these microbial reactions for As speciation and toxicity, understanding of how As bioavailability and uptake are regulated by aspects of extracellular water chemistry, notably dissolved organic matter (DOM), remains limited. Whole-cell biosensors utilizing fluorescent proteins are increasingly used for high-throughput quantification of the bioavailable fraction of As in water. Here, we present a mathematical framework for interpreting the time series of biosensor fluorescence as a measure of As uptake kinetics, which we used to evaluate the effects of different forms of DOM on uptake of trivalent arsenite. We found that thiol-containing organic compounds significantly inhibited uptake of arsenite into cells, possibly through the formation of aqueous complexes between arsenite and thiol ligands. While there was no evidence for competitive interactions between arsenite and low-molecular-weight neutral molecules (urea, glycine, and glyceraldehyde) for uptake through the aquaglyceroporin channel GlpF, which mediates transport of arsenite across cell membranes, there was evidence that labile DOM fractions may inhibit arsenite uptake through a catabolite repression-like mechanism. The observation of significant inhibition of arsenite uptake at DOM/As ratios commonly encountered in wetland pore waters suggests that DOM may be an important control on the microbial uptake of arsenite in the environment, with aspects of DOM quality playing an important role in the extent of inhibition. IMPORTANCE The speciation and toxicity of arsenic in environments like rice paddy soils and groundwater aquifers are controlled by microbe-mediated reactions. These reactions often require As to be taken up into cells prior to enzymatic reaction, but there is limited understanding of how microbial arsenic uptake is affected by variations in water chemistry. In this study, we explored the effect of dissolved organic matter (DOM) quantity and quality on microbial As uptake, with a focus on the role of thiol functional groups that are well known to form aqueous complexes with arsenic. We developed a quantitative framework for interpreting fluorescence time series from whole-cell biosensors and used this technique to evaluate effects of DOM on the rates of microbial arsenic uptake. We show that thiol-containing compounds significantly decrease rates of As uptake into microbial cells at environmentally relevant DOM/As ratios, revealing the importance of DOM quality in regulating arsenic uptake, and subsequent biotransformation, in the environment.

The potential of mercury methylation and demethylation by 15 species of marine microalgae

Mercury (Hg) and its compounds are a kind of worldwide concerned persistent toxic pollutants. As the major primary producer in the ocean, microalgae are expected to play an important role in the cycling and accumulation of Hg in marine ecosystems by either uptake Hg species from seawater or involving in the transformations of Hg species. However, there is still lack of clear knowledge on whether microalgae can induce the methylation and demethylation of Hg in aquatic environments. In this study, Hg isotope dilution and isotope addition techniques were utilized to determine the methylation and demethylation potential of Hg at concentrations comparable to that in natural environments by 15 common marine microalgae (8 species of Diatoms, 4 species of Dinoflagellates, 2 species of Chlorophyta and 1 species of Chrysophyte). Methylation of inorganic Hg was found to be negligible in the culture of all tested marine microalgae, while 6 species could significantly induce the demethylation of methylmercury (MeHg). The rates of microalgae mediated MeHg demethylation were at the same order of magnitude as that of photodemethylation, indicating that marine microalgae may play an important role in the degradation of MeHg in marine environments. Further studies suggest that the demethylation of MeHg by the microalgae may be mainly caused by their extracellular secretions (via photo-induce demethylation) and associated bacteria, rather than the direct demethylation of MeHg by microalgae cells. In addition, it was found that thiol groups may be the major component in microalgal extracellular secretions that lead to the photo-demethylation of MeHg.

Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation Methods for Quantitative Determination and Size Characterization of Thiols and for Mercury Size Speciation Analysis in Organic Matter-Rich Natural Waters

Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) efficiently separates various macromolecules and nano-components of natural waters according to their hydrodynamic sizes. The online coupling of AF4 with fluorescence (Fluo) and UV absorbance (UV) detectors (FluoD and UVD, respectively) and inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) provides multidimensional information. This makes it a powerful tool to characterize and quantify the size distributions of organic and inorganic nano-sized components and their interaction with trace metals. In this study, we developed a method combining thiol labeling by monobromo(trimethylammonio)bimane bromide (qBBr) with AF4–FluoD to determine the size distribution and the quantities of thiols in the macromolecular dissolved organic matter (DOM) present in highly colored DOM-rich water sampled from Shuya River and Lake Onego, Russia. We found that the qBBr-labeled components of DOM (qB-DOM) were of humic type, characterized by a low hydrodynamic size (dh < 2 nm), and have concentrations <0.3 μM. After enrichment with mercury, the complexes formed between the nano-sized components and Hg were analyzed using AF4–ICP-MS. The elution profile of Hg followed the distribution of the UV-absorbing components of DOM, characterized by slightly higher sizes than qB-DOM. Only a small proportion of Hg was associated with the larger-sized components containing Fe and Mn, probably inorganic oxides that were identified in most of the samples from river to lake. The size distribution of the Hg–DOM complexes was enlarged when the concentration of added Hg increased (from 10 to 100 nM). This was explained by the presence of small iron oxides, overlapping the size distribution of Hg–DOM, on which Hg bound to a small proportion. In addition, to provide information on the dispersion of macromolecular thiols in colored DOM-rich natural water, our study also illustrated the potential of AF4–FluoD–UVD–ICP-MS to trace or quantify dynamic changes while Hg binds to the natural nano-colloidal components of surface water.

Red-emitting GSH-Cu NCs as a triplet induced quenched fluorescent probe for fast detection of thiol pollutants

Thiol compounds exist widely on the Earth and have certain significance in the fields of the circulation of the sulfur element and industrial production. However, the odor and biological toxicity of thiol compounds make them pollutants that seriously threaten the environmental safety and the living quality of human. In this study, a novel triplet induced fluorescence "turn-off" strategy was designed for the detection of thiol pollutants via a glutathione-stabilized copper nanocluster (GSH-Cu NC) probe. The as-prepared GSH-Cu NCs not only have small size and good water-solubility, but also exhibit strong red-emitting fluorescence at 630 nm, which could be quenched quantitatively with the increase of the concentration of thiol pollutants. So they were employed to detect thioglycolic acid (TGA), 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA), 2-mercaptoethanol (ME) and 2-(diethylamino)ethanethiol (2-AT) in a wide linear range of 1-100 μM with detection limits of 0.73 μM, 0.43 μM, 0.37 μM, and 0.69 μM, respectively. This method was successfully applied to detect the above thiol pollutants in lake water with good recoveries. Moreover, their further application was also expanded as luminous test strips based on the excellent fluorescence characteristics of GSH-Cu NCs for fast real-time detection of thiol pollutants.

An estimation of sulfur concentrations released by three algae (Chlorella vulgaris, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Scenedesmus obliquus) in response to variable growth photoperiods

In this study, we estimated extracellular concentrations of algal-derived sulfur species in response to changing photoperiods. Cultures from three algal species (Chlorella vulgaris, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Scenedesmus obliquus) were subjected to five different light:dark cycles (12:12, 14:10, 16:8, 18:6, 20:4 h) for a period of 3 days. Sulfur compounds including total reactive thiol concentrations, electroactive reduced sulfur species (RSS), and thiol isomers were measured using qBBr fluorescence, differential pulse cathodic stripping voltammetry (DP-CSV), and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), respectively. Total reactive thiol concentrations were greater in Scenedesmus than in Chlamydomonas and Chlorella at low light regimes (i.e., 12:12 h) whereas Chlamydomonas produced more RSS than the other two species (p < 0.05) at any light regime. Scenedesmus was the only responsive species to produce maximal electroactive RSS, and HRMS equivalent thiol compounds under low light regime, congruent with previous studies. Principal component analysis revealed relationships between qBBr-equivalent thiol and GSH-equivalent RSS concentrations for Scenedesmus and Chlamydomonas (p < 0.05) suggesting that thiols were the dominant species in the pool of electroactive RSS for these two algal species. Overall, these results showed that the light growth conditions greatly influenced the production of S-rich compounds by algae, affecting the complexation of metals such as mercury and cadmium, especially during planktonic blooms.

Determination of picomolar concentrations of thiol compounds in natural waters and biological samples by tandem mass spectrometry with online preconcentration and isotope-labeling derivatization

We present a sensitive, selective and robust method for the determination of 14 thiol compounds in aqueous samples. Thiols were derivatized with ω-bromoacetonylquinolinium bromide (BQB) and its deuterium labeled equivalent D7-ω-bromoacetonylquinolinium bromide (D7). Derivatized thiols were preconcentrated by online solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography separation and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry determination (SPE/LC-ESI-MS/MS). The robustness of the method was validated for wide ranges in pH, salinity, and concentrations of sulfide and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to cover contrasting natural water types. The limits of detection (LODs) for the thiols were 3.1-66 pM. Between 6 and 14 of the thiols were detected in different natural sample types at variable concentrations: boreal wetland porewater (0.7-51 nM), estuarine sediment porewater (50 pM-11 nM), coastal sea water (60 pM-16 nM), and sulfate reducing bacterium cultures (80 pM-4 nM). MS/MS fragmentation of the compounds produces two pairs of common product ions, m/z 130.2/137.1 and 218.1/225.1, which enables scanning for unknown thiols in precursor ion scan mode. Using this approach, we identified cysteine, mercaptoacetic acid, N-acetyl-L-cysteine and sulfurothioic S-acid in boreal wetland porewater. The performance of the developed method sets a new state of the art for the determination of thiol compounds in environmental and biological samples.

Aerobic and Anaerobic Bacterial Mercury Uptake is Driven by Algal Organic Matter Composition and Molecular Weight

The biological mobilization of mercury (Hg) into microbes capable of Hg methylation is one of the limiting steps in the formation of the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg). Although algal dissolved organic matter (DOM) has been associated with increased MeHg production, the relationship between bacterial Hg uptake and algal DOM remains unexplored. In this study, we aimed to address how the quantity and quality of DOM, freshly harvested from several algae, affected the bacterial uptake of Hg with the use of a biosensor capable of functioning both aerobically and anaerobically. We combined biosensor measurements with high-resolution mass spectrometry and field-flow fractionation to elucidate how DOM composition and molecular weight influenced microbial Hg uptake. We showed that freshly harvested DOM from Chlorophyte and Euglena mutabilis strongly inhibited aerobic and anaerobic Hg uptake, whereas DOM harvested from Euglena gracilis did not exhibit this same pronounced effect. Once fractionated, we found that amino acids and polyamines, most abundant in Euglena gracilis DOM, were positively correlated to increase Hg uptake, suggesting that these molecules are potentially underappreciated ligands affecting Hg bioavailability. As water quality is affected by eutrophication, algal community assemblages will change, leading to variations in the nature of autochthonous DOM released in aquatic systems. Our results highlight that variations in the emergent properties of DOM originating from varying algal species can have a profound effect on bacterial Hg uptake and thus methylation.

Assessing cadmium and vanadium accumulation using diffusive gradient in thin-films (DGT) and phytoplankton in the Churchill River estuary, Manitoba

Diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) and phytoplankton communities were evaluated for the measurement of Cd and V at environmentally relevant concentrations in laboratory settings and in the Churchill River estuary (Manitoba, Canada) during an annual spring melt. Despite rapid changes in hydrology and water quality, DGT samplers and intracellular Cd and V concentrations were positively correlated (0.79 < r(2) < 0.99), suggesting comparable accumulation trends between both DGT-labile and intracellular monitoring techniques. The largest accumulated concentrations of both Cd and V by DGT and phytoplankton accumulation methods were found later into the river discharge period. In controlled settings, accumulated Cd and V concentrations by the diatom Attheya septentrionalis displayed a strong correlation with metals accumulated by DGTs (r(2) > 0.99). Principal component analysis (PCA) reinforced similarities between both metal monitoring techniques and assessed how changing environmental variables during the river discharge period influenced each monitoring technique. Cd accumulation was influenced by DOC concentrations and protein-like DOM whereas ionic strength (i.e. conductivity) and humic-like DOM influenced V accumulation. The present findings suggest that (1) DGT is a versatile tool for monitoring bioaccumulation of Cd and V in highly dynamic environmental systems and (2) DOC concentration, DOM composition, conductivity, pH, and river discharge influence the bioavailability of Cd and V in estuarine and riverine waters.

Influence of dissolved organic matter on dissolved vanadium speciation in the Churchill River estuary (Manitoba, Canada)

Diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) devices were used to investigate the temporal and spatial changes in vanadium (V) speciation in the Churchill estuary system (Manitoba). Thirty-six DGT sets and 95 discrete water samples were collected at 8 river and 3 estuary sites during spring freshet and summer base flow. Dissolved V concentration in the Churchill River at summer base flow was approximately 5 times higher than those during the spring high flow (27.3 ± 18.9 nM vs 4.8 ± 3.5 nM). DGT-labile V showed an opposite trend with greater values found during the spring high flow (2.6 ± 1.8 nM vs 1.4 ± 0.3 nM). Parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) conducted on 95 excitation-emission matrix spectra validated four humic-like (C1C4) and one protein-like (C5) fluorescent components. Significant positive relationship was found between protein-like DOM and DGT-labile V (r = 0.53, p < 0.05), indicating that protein-like DOM possibly affected the DGT-labile V concentration in Churchill River. Sediment leachates were enriched in DGT-labile V and protein-like DOM, which can be readily released when river sediment began to thaw during spring freshet.