ArticleNature communications2023
Dissolved organic matter thiol concentrations determine methylmercury bioavailability across the terrestrial-marine aquatic continuum.
Article in Nature communications, 2023. 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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Formation of Refractory Monomethylmercury Pools by Particle Adsorption.ACS ES&T water · 2026Article
- Universal Apparent Quantum Yield Model Manifests a Dual Role of Dissolved Organic Matter as Sensitizer and Inhibitor of Methylmercury Photodegradation in Lakes.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Mechanistic Insights into Mercury Photoreduction: Effects of Dissolved Organic Matter and Inorganic Carbon in Seawater.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- The Athabasca River regulates methylmercury burdens of waterbirds breeding downstream.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Quantitative determination of mercury in blood-based DL-cysteine-modified direct mercury analyzer method.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Declines in anthropogenic mercury emissions in the Global North and China offset by the Global South.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Riparian Methylmercury Production Increases Riverine Mercury Flux and Food Web Concentrations.Environmental science & technology · 2024Article
- Competition between Dissolved Organic Matter and Freshwater Plankton Control Methylmercury Isotope Fractionation during Uptake and Photochemical Demethylation.ACS earth & space chemistry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The most critical step for methylmercury (MeHg) bioaccumulation in aquatic food webs is phytoplankton uptake of dissolved MeHg. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) has been known to influence MeHg uptake, but the mechanisms have remained unclear. Here we show that the concentration of DOM-associated thiol functional groups (DOM-RSH) varies substantially across contrasting aquatic systems and dictates MeHg speciation and bioavailability to phytoplankton. Across our 20 study sites, DOM-RSH concentrations decrease 40-fold from terrestrial to marine environments whereas dissolved organic carbon (DOC), the typical proxy for MeHg binding sites in DOM, only has a 5-fold decrease. MeHg accumulation into phytoplankton is shown to be directly linked to the concentration of specific MeHg binding sites (DOM-RSH), rather than DOC. Therefore, MeHg bioavailability increases systematically across the terrestrial-marine aquatic continuum as the DOM-RSH concentration decreases. Our results strongly suggest that measuring DOM-RSH concentrations will improve empirical models in phytoplankton uptake studies and will form a refined basis for modeling MeHg incorporation in aquatic food webs under various environmental conditions.
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Registered trials
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