ArticlePloS one2020
Mercury-methylating bacteria are associated with copepods: A proof-of-principle survey in the Baltic Sea.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut Microbiomes of Marine Zooplankton: Consequences for Host Performance, the Biological Carbon Pump, and Prokaryote Biogeography.Environmental microbiology · 2026Review
- Microbial metacommunity dynamics associated with the cyclopoid copepodFrontiers in systems biology · 2026Article
- Mercury and Arctic Char Gill Microbiota Correlation in Canadian Arctic Communities.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Biodiversity of microorganisms in the Baltic Sea: the power of novel methods in the identification of marine microbes.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2024Review
- Geochemical and Dietary Drivers of Mercury Bioaccumulation in Estuarine Benthic Invertebrates.Environmental science & technology · 2022Article
- Evidence of Low-Habitat Contamination Using Feathers of Three Heron Species as a Biomonitor of Inorganic Elemental Pollution.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Deltaproteobacteria and Spirochaetes-Like Bacteria Are Abundant Putative Mercury Methylators in Oxygen-Deficient Water and Marine Particles in the Baltic Sea.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- The variability of Hg concentration and composition of marine phytoplankton.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin that biomagnifies in marine food webs. Inorganic mercury (Hg) methylation is conducted by heterotrophic bacteria inhabiting sediment or settling detritus, but endogenous methylation by the gut microbiome of animals in the lower food webs is another possible source. We examined the occurrence of the bacterial gene (hgcA), required for Hg methylation, in the guts of dominant zooplankters in the Northern Baltic Sea. A qPCR assay targeting the hgcA sequence in three main clades (Deltaproteobacteria, Firmicutes and Archaea) was used in the field-collected specimens of copepods (Acartia bifilosa, Eurytemora affinis, Pseudocalanus acuspes and Limnocalanus macrurus) and cladocerans (Bosmina coregoni maritima and Cercopagis pengoi). All copepods were found to carry hgcA genes in their gut microbiome, whereas no amplification was recorded in the cladocerans. In the copepods, hgcA genes belonging to only Deltaproteobacteria and Firmicutes were detected. These findings suggest a possibility that endogenous Hg methylation occurs in zooplankton and may contribute to seasonal, spatial and vertical MeHg variability in the water column and food webs. Additional molecular and metagenomics studies are needed to identify bacteria carrying hgcA genes and improve their quantification in microbiota.
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