Microbial Oxidation and Demethylation Processes in the Environmental Mercury Cycle

[摘要] This project demonstrated that bacterial catalase enzymes can convert unreactive Hg(0) to highly reactive Hg(II) ion. It also demonstrated the mechanism of the organomercural lyase, a bacterial enzyme which degrades methylmercury and other organomercurials. Lastly, it demonstrated the 3-dimensional structure of this enzyme by both solution NMR and by x-ray crystallography. These structures provide insights into the catalytic mechanism of the lyase that will allow engineering of variants with improved ability to degrade methylmercury.

[发布日期] 2000-10-30 [发布机构] University of Georgia Research Foundation, Athens, GA

[关键词] Crystallography;Biogeochemical Mercury Cycling;Methylmercury;Enzymes;Bioremediation