Episodic bioavailability of environmental mercury: Implications for biotechnological control of mercury pollution

Abstract

Perennial wildfires in Africa and other continents contribute an estimated 8 × 105 kg of mercury to the global atmosphere with a residence time of approximately one year. This phenomenon changes the flux of biologically available mercury in natural microbial communities where enzymatic actions, including mercuric reductase and organomercurial lyase activities, underpin the biogeochemical cycling of mercury with repercussions for human exposure to toxic forms of the element. To elucidate the impact of episodic mercury Assessment Project at Harvard University; the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Training Program, and fellowships from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Discussions stimulated with colleagues during a program funded by an AT&T Foundation Industrial Ecology fellowship were instrumental in conceptualizing the study.