DATE/TIME:  Friday, April 8, 2022, 2:30 pm
PLACE: 
       

Lijie Zhang
Environmental Biogeochemical Processes (EBP) Lab, New Jersey Institute of Technology

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Biogeochemical transformation of mercury: microbial methylation and demethylation

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Mercury is a pervasive pollutant. Inorganic mercury can be microbially converted to neurotoxic methylmercury, which can bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food webs and pose significant threats to human and ecosystem health. However, the net methylmercury concentration in the environment is also determined by the degradation (demethylation) of methylmercury. We seek to understand the biogeochemical drivers that mediate the methylation and demethylation processes of methylmercury. In this talk, I will highlight our recent studies on the control of particulates on mercury methylation and the impact of chalkophore methanobactins on microbial methylation and demethylaiton of methylmercury.