Mercury methylation from unexpected sources: molybdate-inhibited freshwater sediments and an iron-reducing bacterium

Methylmercury has been thought to be produced predominantly by sulfate-reducing bacteria in anoxic sediments. Here we show that in circumneutral pH sediments (Clear Lake, CA) application of a specific inhibitor of sulfate-reducing bacteria at appropriate concentrations typically inhibited less than one-half of all anaerobic methylation of added divalent mercury. This suggests that one or more additional groups of microbes are active methylators in these sediments impacted by a nearby abandoned mercury mine. From Clear Lake sediments, we isolated the iron-reducing bacterium Geobacter sp. strain CLFeRB, which can methylate mercury at a rate comparable to Desulfobulbus propionicus strain 1pr3, a sulfate-reducing bacterium known to be an active methylator. This is the first time that an iron-reducing bacterium has been shown to methylate mercury at environmentally significant rates. We suggest that mercury methylation by iron-reducing bacteria represents a previously unidentified and potentially significant source of this environmental toxin in iron-rich freshwater sediments.