Engineering topics

Summers, Anne

Publications and source records attributed to Summers, Anne.

2 records

DOE OSTI2016

Summers_FinalReport_ER64408

Elemental mercury, Hg(0) is a contaminant at many DOE sites, especially at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) where the spread of spilled Hg and its effects on microbial populations have been monitored for decades. To explore the microbial interactions with Hg, we devised a global proteomic approach capable of directly detecting Hg-adducts of proteins. This technique developed in the facultative anaerobe, Escherichia coli, allows us to identify the proteins most vulnerable to acute exposure to organomercurials phenyl- and ethyl-mercury (as surrogates for the highly neurotoxic methyl-Hg) (Polacco, et al, 2011). We have found >300 such proteins in all metabolic functional groups and cellular compartments; most are highly conserved and can serve as markers for acute Hg exposure (Zink, et al. 2016, in preparation).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2013

Why mercury prefers soft ligands

Mercury (Hg) is a major global pollutant arising from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Defining the factors that determine the relative affinities of different ligands for the mercuric ion, Hg2+, is critical to understanding its speciation, transformation, and bioaccumulation in the environment. Here, we use quantum chemistry to dissect the relative binding free energies for a series of inorganic anion complexes of Hg2+. Comparison of Hg2+ ligand interactions in the gaseous and aqueous phases shows that differences in interactions with a few, local water molecules led to a clear periodic trend within the chalcogenide and halide groups and resulted in the well-known experimentally observed preference of Hg2+ for soft ligands such as thiols. Our approach establishes a basis for understanding Hg speciation in the biosphere.

Riccardi, Demian M↗