Microbial potential to mitigate neurotoxic methylmercury accumulation in farmlands and rice
Xin-Quan Zhou,
Kang-Hua Chen,
Ri-Qing Yu,
Man Yang,
Qin Liu,
Yun-Yun Hao,
Jibing Li,
Hui-Wen Liu,
Jiao Feng,
Wenfeng Tan,
Qiaoyun Huang,
Baohua Gu and
Yu-Rong Liu ()
Additional contact information
Xin-Quan Zhou: Huazhong Agricultural University
Kang-Hua Chen: Huazhong Agricultural University
Ri-Qing Yu: The University of Texas at Tyler
Man Yang: Huazhong Agricultural University
Qin Liu: Huazhong Agricultural University
Yun-Yun Hao: Huazhong Agricultural University
Jibing Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hui-Wen Liu: Huazhong Agricultural University
Jiao Feng: Huazhong Agricultural University
Wenfeng Tan: Huazhong Agricultural University
Qiaoyun Huang: Huazhong Agricultural University
Baohua Gu: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Yu-Rong Liu: Huazhong Agricultural University
Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13
Abstract:
Abstract Toxic methylmercury (CH3Hg+) is produced by microbial conversion of inorganic mercury in hypoxic environments such as rice paddy soils, and can accumulate in rice grains. Although microbial demethylation has been recognized as a crucial pathway for CH3Hg+ degradation, the identities of microbes and pathways accountable for CH3Hg+ degradation in soil remain elusive. Here, we combine 13CH3Hg+-DNA stable-isotope probing experiments with shotgun metagenomics to explore microbial taxa and associated biochemical processes involved in CH3Hg+ degradation in paddy and upland soils. We identify Pseudarthrobacter, Methylophilaceae (MM2), and Dechloromonas as the most significant taxa potentially engaged in the degradation of 13CH3Hg+ in paddy soil with high mercury contamination. We confirm that strains affiliated with two of those taxa (species Dechloromonas denitrificans and Methylovorus menthalis) can degrade CH3Hg+ in pure culture assays. Metagenomic analysis further reveals that most of these candidate 13CH3Hg+ degraders carry genes associated with the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway, dicarboxylate-hydroxybutyrate cycle, methanogenesis, and denitrification, but apparently lack the merB and merA genes involved in CH3Hg+ reductive demethylation. Finally, we estimate that microbial degradation of soil CH3Hg+ contributes to 0.08–0.64 fold decreases in CH3Hg+ accumulation in rice grains across China (hazard quotient (HQ) decrements of 0.62–13.75%). Thus, our results provide insights into microorganisms and pathways responsible for CH3Hg+ degradation in soil, with potential implications for development of bioremediation strategies.
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60458-1 Abstract (text/html)
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60458-1
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60458-1
Access Statistics for this article
Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie
More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().