Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39939605›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Methylmercury demethylation and volatilization by animals expressing microbial enzymes.

Kate Tepper, Josh King, Pradeep Manuneedhi Cholan, Chandran Pfitzner, Marco Morsch, Simon C Apte, Maciej Maselko

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Paving the Way to Elucidate Hg's Role in Tumorigenesis.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Kate TepperApplied BioSciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Josh KingCSIRO Environment, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Pradeep Manuneedhi CholanFaculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Chandran PfitznerApplied BioSciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Marco MorschFaculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences, Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9484-8050
Simon C ApteCSIRO Environment, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Maciej MaselkoApplied BioSciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia. maciej.maselko@mq.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7831-848X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mercury is a highly toxic trace metal that readily biomagnifies in food webs where it is inaccessible to current bioremediation methods. Animals could potentially be engineered to detoxify mercury within their food webs to clean up impacted ecosystems. We demonstrate that invertebrate (Drosophila melanogaster) and vertebrate (Danio rerio) animal models can express organomercurial lyase (MerB) and mercuric reductase (MerA) from Escherichia coli to demethylate methylmercury and remove it from their biomass as volatile elemental mercury. The engineered animals accumulated less than half as much mercury relative to their wild-type counterparts, and a higher proportion of mercury in their tissue was in the form of less bioavailable inorganic mercury. Furthermore, the engineered animals could tolerate higher exposures to methylmercury compared to controls. These findings demonstrate the potential of using engineered animals for bioremediation and may be applied to reduce the burden of methylmercury in impacted ecosystems by disrupting its biomagnification or to treat contaminated organic waste streams.

Indexed as

Escherichia coli ProteinsLyasesMethylmercury CompoundsOxidoreductasesAnimalsAnimals, Genetically ModifiedBacterial ProteinsBiodegradation, EnvironmentalDrosophila melanogasterEscherichia coliMercuryMethylationVolatilizationZebrafishBacterial ProteinsEscherichia coli ProteinsLyasesMerB protein, Bacteriamercuric reductaseMercuryMethylmercury CompoundsOxidoreductases

Identifiers

PMID39939605
PMCPMC11821883

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.