Dwayne A. Elias

TL;DR: Nanowires produced by the oxygenic phototrophic cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC6803 and the thermophilic, fermentative bacterium Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum reveal that electrically conductive appendages are not exclusive to dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria and may, in fact, represent a common bacterial strategy for efficient electron transfer and energy distribution.

TL;DR: A two-gene cluster, hgcA and hgcB, required for mercury methylation by Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ND132 and Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA are reported, consistent with roles as a methyl carrier and an electron donor required for corrinoid cofactor reduction, respectively.

TL;DR: For the first time, Hg methylation is demonstrated in a number of species other than sulfate- (SRB) and iron- (FeRB) reducing bacteria, including methanogens, and syntrophic, acetogenic, and fermentative Firmicutes, which indicates organisms are much more phylogenetically and environmentally diverse than previously thought.

TL;DR: Phylogenetic analysis points to an evolutionary relationship between hgcA and genes encoding corrinoid iron-sulfur proteins functioning in the ancient Wood-Ljungdahl carbon fixation pathway, suggesting that methanogenic Archaea may have been the first to perform these biotransformations.

TL;DR: It is shown that ND132 simultaneously produces and degrades methylmercury (MeHg) during growth but does not produce elemental Hg, indicating that there may be some evolutionary basis for the ability to produce MeHg within this genus.