The Combined Effect of Hg(II) Speciation, Thiol Metabolism, and Cell Physiology on Methylmercury Formation by .

The chemical and biological factors controlling microbial formation of methylmercury (MeHg) are widely studied separately, but the combined effects of these factors are largely unknown. We examined how the chemical speciation of divalent, inorganic mercury (Hg(II)), as controlled by low-molecular-mass thiols, and cell physiology govern MeHg formation by . We compared MeHg formation with and without addition of exogenous cysteine (Cys) to experimental assays with varying nutrient and bacterial metabolite concentrations.

Metabolic turnover of cysteine-related thiol compounds at environmentally relevant concentrations by .

Low-molecular-mass (LMM) thiol compounds are known to be important for many biological processes in various organisms but LMM thiols are understudied in anaerobic bacteria. In this work, we examined the production and turnover of nanomolar concentrations of LMM thiols with a chemical structure related to cysteine by the model iron-reducing bacterium . Our results show that tightly controls the production, excretion and intracellular concentration of thiols depending on cellular growth state and external conditions.

Methylmercury formation in biofilms of .

Introduction: Mercury (Hg) is a major environmental pollutant that accumulates in biota predominantly in the form of methylmercury (MeHg). Surface-associated microbial communities (biofilms) represent an important source of MeHg in natural aquatic systems. In this work, we report MeHg formation in biofilms of the iron-reducing bacterium .

Study of Electrochemical Reduction of CO for Future Use in Secondary Microbial Electrochemical Technologies.

The fluctuation and decentralization of renewable energy have triggered the search for respective energy storage and utilization. At the same time, a sustainable bioeconomy calls for the exploitation of CO as feedstock. Secondary microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) allow both challenges to be tackled because the electrochemical reduction of CO can be coupled with microbial synthesis.