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DOE OSTI · 1302637

Summers_FinalReport_ER64408

Summers, Anne·Miller, Susan M.·Lipton, Mary
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Abstract

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).

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59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESbacteriamass spectrometrymercuryproteomics

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Summers, Anne, Miller, Susan M., Lipton, Mary. 2016-08-22. Summers_FinalReport_ER64408. https://doi.org/10.2172/1302637

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