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Jeong H, Ali W, Zinck P, Souissi S, Lee JS. Toxicity of methylmercury in aquatic organisms and interaction with environmental factors and coexisting pollutants: A review. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 943:173574. [PMID: 38823721 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173574] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2024] [Revised: 05/20/2024] [Accepted: 05/25/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
Mercury is a hazardous heavy metal that is distributed worldwide in aquatic ecosystems. Methylmercury (MeHg) poses significant toxicity risks to aquatic organisms, primarily through bioaccumulation and biomagnification, due to its strong affinity for protein thiol groups, which results in negative effects even at low concentrations. MeHg exposure can cause various physiological changes, oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, metabolic disorders, genetic damage, and immunotoxicity. To assess the risks of MeHg contamination in actual aquatic ecosystems, it is important to understand how MeHg interacts with environmental factors such as temperature, pH, dissolved organic matter, salinity, and other pollutants such as microplastics and organic compounds. Complex environmental conditions can cause potential toxicity, such as synergistic, antagonistic, and unchanged effects, of MeHg in aquatic organisms. This review focuses on demonstrating the toxic effects of single MeHg exposure and the interactive relationships between MeHg and surrounding environmental factors or pollutants on aquatic organisms. Our review also recommends further research on biological and molecular responses in aquatic organisms to better understand the potential toxicity of combinational exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haksoo Jeong
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea
| | - Wajid Ali
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, Univ. Artois, UMR 8181 - UCCS - Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide, F-59000 Lille, France; Univ. Lille, CNRS, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, IRD, UMR-8187-LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, Station Marine de Wimereux, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Philippe Zinck
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, Univ. Artois, UMR 8181 - UCCS - Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide, F-59000 Lille, France
| | - Sami Souissi
- Univ. Lille, CNRS, Univ. Littoral Côte d'Opale, IRD, UMR-8187-LOG, Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences, Station Marine de Wimereux, F-59000 Lille, France; Center of Excellence for Ocean Engineering, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan; Operation Center for Enterprise Academia Networking, National Taiwan Ocean University, Keelung 20224, Taiwan
| | - Jae-Seong Lee
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, South Korea.
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Stinson I, Li HH, Tsui MTK, Ku P, Ulus Y, Cheng Z, Lam HM. Tree foliage as a net accumulator of highly toxic methylmercury. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1757. [PMID: 38242950 PMCID: PMC10799008 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-51469-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Tree canopies are known to elevate atmospheric inputs of both mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg). While foliar uptake of gaseous Hg is well documented, little is known regarding the temporal dynamics and origins of MeHg in tree foliage, which represents typically less than 1% of total Hg in foliage. In this work, we examined the foliar total Hg and MeHg content by following the growth of five individual trees of American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) for one growing season (April-November, 2017) in North Carolina, USA. We show that similar to other studies foliar Hg content increased almost linearly over time, with daily accumulation rates ranging from 0.123 to 0.161 ng/g/day. However, not all trees showed linear increases of foliar MeHg content along the growing season; we found that 2 out of 5 trees showed elevated foliar MeHg content at the initial phase of the growing season but their MeHg content declined through early summer. However, foliar MeHg content among all 5 trees showed eventual increases through the end of the growing season, proving that foliage is a net accumulator of MeHg while foliar gain of biomass did not "dilute" MeHg content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Idus Stinson
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27402, USA
| | - Han-Han Li
- School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010, China.
| | - Martin Tsz-Ki Tsui
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27402, USA.
- School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China.
- Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China.
| | - Peijia Ku
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27402, USA
- Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37830, USA
| | - Yener Ulus
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27402, USA
- Department of Environmental Studies, Davidson College, Davidson, NC, 28035, USA
| | - Zhang Cheng
- College of Environment, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China
| | - Hon-Ming Lam
- School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Gojkovic Z, Simansky S, Sanabria A, Márová I, Garbayo I, Vílchez C. Interaction of Naturally Occurring Phytoplankton with the Biogeochemical Cycling of Mercury in Aquatic Environments and Its Effects on Global Hg Pollution and Public Health. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2034. [PMID: 37630594 PMCID: PMC10458190 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11082034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The biogeochemical cycling of mercury in aquatic environments is a complex process driven by various factors, such as ambient temperature, seasonal variations, methylating bacteria activity, dissolved oxygen levels, and Hg interaction with dissolved organic matter (DOM). As a consequence, part of the Hg contamination from anthropogenic activity that was buried in sediments is reinserted into water columns mainly in highly toxic organic Hg forms (methylmercury, dimethylmercury, etc.). This is especially prominent in the coastal shallow waters of industrial regions worldwide. The main entrance point of these highly toxic Hg forms in the aquatic food web is the naturally occurring phytoplankton. Hg availability, intake, effect on population size, cell toxicity, eventual biotransformation, and intracellular stability in phytoplankton are of the greatest importance for human health, having in mind that such Hg incorporated inside the phytoplankton cells due to biomagnification effects eventually ends up in aquatic wildlife, fish, seafood, and in the human diet. This review summarizes recent findings on the topic of organic Hg form interaction with natural phytoplankton and offers new insight into the matter with possible directions of future research for the prevention of Hg biomagnification in the scope of climate change and global pollution increase scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zivan Gojkovic
- Algae Biotechnology Group, CIDERTA, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain; (A.S.); (I.G.); (C.V.)
| | - Samuel Simansky
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 118, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic; (S.S.); (I.M.)
| | - Alain Sanabria
- Algae Biotechnology Group, CIDERTA, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain; (A.S.); (I.G.); (C.V.)
| | - Ivana Márová
- Faculty of Chemistry, Brno University of Technology, Purkynova 118, 61200 Brno, Czech Republic; (S.S.); (I.M.)
| | - Inés Garbayo
- Algae Biotechnology Group, CIDERTA, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain; (A.S.); (I.G.); (C.V.)
| | - Carlos Vílchez
- Algae Biotechnology Group, CIDERTA, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain; (A.S.); (I.G.); (C.V.)
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Park J, Cho H, Han S, An SU, Choi A, Lee H, Hyun JH. Impacts of the invasive Spartina anglica on C-S-Hg cycles and Hg(II) methylating microbial communities revealed by hgcA gene analysis in intertidal sediment of the Han River estuary, Yellow Sea. MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 2023; 187:114498. [PMID: 36603235 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
We investigated the impact of invasive vegetation on mercury cycles, and identified microorganisms directly related to Hg(II) methylation using hgcA gene in vegetated mud flats (VMF) inhabited by native Suaeda japonica (SJ) and invasive Spartina anglica (SA), and unvegetated mud flats (UMF) in Ganghwa intertidal sediments. Sulfate reduction rate (SRR) and rate constants of Hg(II) methylation (Km) and methyl-Hg demethylation (Kd) were consistently greater in VMF than in UMF, specifically 1.5, 2 and 11.7 times higher, respectively, for SA. Both Km and Kd were significantly correlated with SRR and the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria. These results indicate that the rhizosphere of invasive SA provides a hotspot for Hg dynamics coupled with sulfate reduction. HgcA gene analysis revealed that Hg(II)-methylators were dominated by Deltaproteobacteria, Chloroflexi and Euryarchaeota, comprising 37.9%, 35.8%, and 6.5% of total hgcA gene sequences, respectively, which implies that coastal sediments harbor diverse Hg(II)-methylating microorganisms that previously underrepresented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jisu Park
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea
| | - Hyeyoun Cho
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea
| | - Seunghee Han
- School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 123 Cheomdangwagi-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 61005, South Korea
| | - Sung-Uk An
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea; Korean Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), 385 Haeyang-ro, Yeongdo-gu, Busan Metropolitan City 49111, South Korea
| | - Ayeon Choi
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea; Korean Institute of Ocean Science & Technology (KIOST), 385 Haeyang-ro, Yeongdo-gu, Busan Metropolitan City 49111, South Korea
| | - Hyeonji Lee
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea
| | - Jung-Ho Hyun
- Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University (ERICA Campus), 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, South Korea.
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