All methylmercury articles
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News
Designer microbe shows promise for reducing mercury absorption from seafood
Scientists who inserted DNA-encoding methylmercury detoxification enzymes into the genome of an abundant human gut bacterium found it detoxified methylmercury in the gut of mice and dramatically reduced the amount that reached other tissues.
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News
Study reveals how microbes create the most toxic form of mercury
Mercury is extraordinarily toxic, but it becomes especially dangerous when transformed into methylmercury – a form so harmful that just a few billionths of a gram can cause severe and lasting neurological damage to a developing fetus. Unfortunately, methylmercury often makes its way into our bodies through seafood – but ...
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News
Uptake of methylmercury by phytoplankton is controlled by thiols
A new study shows that the concentrations of so-called thiols in the water control how available the methylmercury is to living organisms.
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News
Some phytoplankton can blitz neurotoxin methylmercury - even in the dark
In the search for ways to fight methylmercury in global waterways, scientists have discovered that some forms of phytoplankton are good at degrading the potent neurotoxin - even in the absence of sunlight.