A highly sensitive fluorescent turn-on probe specific for methylmercury species as well as inorganic mercury ions has been developed on the basis of mercury ion-promoted hydrolysis of a fluorescein-derived aryl vinyl ether.

A highly sensitive and selective fluorescent probe for inorganic and organic mercury species displays colorimetric and ratiometric response in a buffer solution via mercury promoted cleavage reaction. The probe is demonstrated to detect CH(3)HgCl in living cells.

Seabirds are used frequently as indicators of mercury contamination in marine ecosystems, but few studies have examined the forms of mercury found in seabird tissues. Here we compare concentrations of total and organic mercury in feathers (n=5) of six sympatric nesting seabirds and in egg components of Leach's storm-petrels from Machias Seal Island, New Brunswick, Canada, during the 2006 breedi...

Mercury has contaminated rivers worldwide, with health consequences for aquatic organisms and humans who consume them. Researchers have focused on aquatic birds as sentinels for mercury. However, trophic transfer between adjacent ecosystems could lead to the export of aquatic mercury to terrestrial habitats. Along a mercury-contaminated river in Virginia, United States, terrestrial birds had si...

Mercury is one of the most toxic and hazardous pollutant which occurs in the environment in different chemical forms, of which methylmercury is the most dangerous. Recently it was recognised that long-term anthropogenic inputs of mercury into environment resulted in the global mercury pollution and it was concluded that action should be taken to quantify the pollution sources and reduce human-g...

Predicting mercury (Hg) concentrations of fishes at large spatial scales is a fundamental environmental challenge with the potential to improve human health. In this study, mercury concentrations were examined for five species across 161 lakes and ecosystem, and watershed parameters were investigated as explanatory variables in statistical models. For all species, Hg concentrations were signifi...

The genetic basis for bacterial mercury methylation has been described recently. For insights into the physiology of mercury-methylating bacteria, we present genome sequences for Desulfococcus multivorans strain DSM 2059, Desulfovibrio alkalitolerans strain DSM 16529, and Desulfovibrio species strain X2.

The production of the neurotoxic methylmercury in the environment is partly controlled by the bioavailability of inorganic divalent mercury (Hg(II)) to anaerobic bacteria that methylate Hg(II). In sediment porewater, Hg(II) associates with sulfides and natural organic matter to form chemical species that include organic-coated mercury sulfide nanoparticles as reaction intermediates of heterogen...

The DOE complex contains many tank sludges contaminated with mercury. The high pH of these tank sludges typically fails to stabilize the mercury, resulting in these radioactive wastes also being characteristically hazardous or mixed waste. The traditional treatment for soluble inorganic mercury species is precipitation as insoluble mercuric sulfide. Sulfide treatment and a commercial mercury-st...

Most attention to the risks from fish consumption has focused on recreational anglers and on fish caught by individuals, but the majority of fish that people eat are purchased from commercial sources. We examined mercury levels in three types of fish (tuna, flounder, bluefish) commonly available in New Jersey stores, sampling different regions of the state, in communities with high and low per ...