Back to Search
Start Over
Tissue content of thiol-containing amino acids predicts methylmercury in aquatic invertebrates
- Source :
- Science of The Total Environment. 688:567-573
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Aquatic invertebrates vary in methylmercury (MeHg) levels among systems which has been attributed, in part, to environmental conditions, but may also be linked to differences in their biochemical composition. As MeHg is known to bind to thiol-containing amino acids such as cysteine in proteins of fish, our objective was to determine if these amino acids explain MeHg variability among aquatic invertebrate taxa. Benthic macroinvertebrates from diverse functional feeding groups and bulk zooplankton were collected from six acidic lakes in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada, and analyzed for MeHg, cysteine (as cysteic acid), methionine (as methionine sulfone), and nitrogen (relative trophic level, δ 15 N) and carbon (carbon source, δ 13 C) isotopes. MeHg was significantly and positively related to cysteine or methionine in zooplankton, caddisfly and stonefly tissues (R 2 from 0.24 to 0.57). In addition, methionine or cysteine in combination with δ 15 N and/or δ 13 C were better predictors of MeHg levels in stoneflies, mayflies, caddisflies and zooplankton among these lakes (R 2 adj = 0.25–0.91). Overall, these novel findings suggest that the variability in MeHg of aquatic invertebrates can be explained, in part, by their tissue levels of thiol-containing amino acids.
- Subjects :
- Aquatic Organisms
Environmental Engineering
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Cysteic acid
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Zooplankton
chemistry.chemical_compound
Animals
Environmental Chemistry
Sulfhydryl Compounds
14. Life underwater
Amino Acids
Waste Management and Disposal
Methylmercury
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Trophic level
chemistry.chemical_classification
Methionine
Aquatic animal
Methylmercury Compounds
Invertebrates
Pollution
Amino acid
Nova Scotia
chemistry
13. Climate action
Environmental chemistry
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Environmental Monitoring
Cysteine
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00489697
- Volume :
- 688
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Science of The Total Environment
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....28e738babf68dd1386d022b5ce457110