ArticleThe ISME journal2023
Potential for mercury methylation by Asgard archaea in mangrove sediments.
Article in The ISME journal, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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6 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impacts of pollution on the soil microbiome.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- A seven-year metagenomic genome catalogue of mangrove and mudflat sediments from the Futian Reserve, China.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Ecological drivers of Promethearchaeati's specialization for deep subsurface environments.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Homologous recombination and gene-specific selection co-shape the vertical nucleotide diversity of mangrove sediment microbial populations.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Chemolithoautotrophic diazotrophs dominate dark nitrogen fixation in mangrove sediments.The ISME journal · 2024Article
- Phylogenetic and ecophysiological novelty of subsurface mercury methylators in mangrove sediments.The ISME journal · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin that bioaccumulates along food chains. The conversion of MeHg from mercury (Hg) is mediated by a variety of anaerobic microorganisms carrying hgcAB genes. Mangrove sediments are potential hotspots of microbial Hg methylation; however, the microorganisms responsible for Hg methylation are poorly understood. Here, we conducted metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses to investigate the diversity and distribution of putative microbial Hg-methylators in mangrove ecosystems. The highest hgcA abundance and expression occurred in surface sediments in Shenzhen, where the highest MeHg concentration was also observed. We reconstructed 157 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) carrying hgcA and identified several putative novel Hg-methylators, including one Asgard archaea (Lokiarchaeota). Further analysis of MAGs revealed that Deltaproteobacteria, Euryarchaeota, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Lokiarchaeota were the most abundant and active Hg-methylating groups, implying their crucial role in MeHg production. By screening publicly available MAGs, 104 additional Asgard MAGs carrying hgcA genes were identified from a wide range of coast, marine, permafrost, and lake sediments. Protein homology modelling predicts that Lokiarchaeota HgcAB proteins contained the highly conserved amino acid sequences and folding structures required for Hg methylation. Phylogenetic tree revealed that hgcA genes from Asgard clustered with fused hgcAB genes, indicating a transitional stage of Asgard hgcA genes. Our findings thus suggest that Asgard archaea are potential novel Hg-methylating microorganisms and play an important role in hgcA evolution.
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